On March 19 the French General Ferey attempted to surprise the post of Barba del Puerco. About midnight, leaving a strong force in support, at the head of six hundred grenadiers, chosen for this service, he approached the bridge, as the moon, rising behind him, threw a shadow from the high ground and made his approach invisible. The roaring torrent of the Agueda, swollen by recent rains and melting snow, overpowered the tread of the advancing column. Thus he came, unperceived, on the double sentries on the bridge. They had just time to fire their rifles, when they were both wounded and made prisoners. Ferey at once dashed across the bridge with his grenadiers, sweeping before him a sergeant’s party at the bridge, and made for the pass. Here he was met and checked by O’Hare,[74] whose company happened to be on picquet, who defended the face of the hill, step by step and muzzle to muzzle, as overpowering numbers forced him up it. Meanwhile the three companies in the village sprung from their sleep, seized their arms, and without waiting for regular formation, fought hand to hand with their enemies as they met them. One company, Colonel Sidney Beckwith, who was in command of the post, immediately sent away to the right, thinking that the enemy might attempt to climb the hill by a pathway there and turn his flank; with the other two he reinforced O’Hare’s picquet; and so they fought for half an hour, with such daring and such fury that the French turned and fled across the bridge, leaving 2 officers and 7 men killed, 6 prisoners and 30 muskets in the hands of their opponents.
In this affair great deeds of valour were done. Beckwith, while lowering a piece of rock to hurl down on the advancing Frenchmen, received a musket-ball through his shako, without its wounding him. And James Stewart, then the Adjutant, was engaged in a hand-to-hand fight with two of the grenadiers, when a Rifleman named Ballard shot one, on which the other was overpowered by, and surrendered to, Stewart, who was specially mentioned by Sir Arthur Wellesley in his Despatches, and recommended by Beckwith for promotion; but it never came, and he was killed a year after in the advance from Santarem. Lieutenant Mercer and 3 Riflemen were killed, and 10 were wounded.
In repelling this night attack the Riflemen stood against more than double their numbers. Six hundred grenadiers crossed the bridge, and only three companies repulsed them, O’Hare’s picquet and two under Beckwith; the fourth company occupying the post being detached to defend the path on the right, which was not attempted, never having been engaged.
This fight opened the campaign of 1810. The stern Craufurd, ever sparing of praise, issued the following divisional order:
Villa de Ciervo: March 25, 1810.
D. O.
Brigadier-General Craufurd has it in command from the Commander-in-Chief to assure Lieutenant-Colonel Beckwith and the officers of the 95th Regiment who were engaged at Barba del Puerco that their conduct in this affair has augmented the confidence he has in the troops when opposed to the enemy in any situation.
Brigadier-General Craufurd feels peculiar satisfaction in noticing the first affair in which any part of the Light Brigade were engaged during the present campaign. That British troops should defeat a superior number of the enemy is nothing new; but the action reflects honour on Lieutenant-Colonel Beckwith and the Regiment, inasmuch as it was of a sort which the riflemen of other armies would shun. In other armies the rifle is considered ill-calculated for close action with an enemy armed with a musket and bayonet; but the 95th Regiment has proved that the rifle in the hands of a British soldier is a fully sufficient weapon to enable him to defeat the French in the closest fight, in whatever manner they may be armed.
(Signed) V. Graham, D. A. G.