The History of the Rifle Brigade (the Prince Consort's Own) Formerly the 95th

by William Henry Cope

A Rifleman, named Charity, in the cavalry charge received a sabre cut in the head, another in the body, and a musket shot through the arm; yet recovered and died a Chelsea pensioner many years afterwards.

In the Despatch reporting this action to the Earl of Liverpool, Lord Wellington states: ‘I am informed that throughout this trying day the Commanding Officers of the 43rd, 52nd, and 95th Regiments, Lieutenant-Colonel Beckwith, Lieutenant-Colonel Barclay, and Lieutenant-Colonel Hall, and all the officers and soldiers of these excellent regiments, distinguished themselves.’[80]

As soon as night had fallen Craufurd withdrew his Division from the Coa, and the Battalion bivouacked late on that night in some rocky ground near Valverde, the men suffering from the heavy rains of the preceding night and day.

Late in the night of the 25th they marched from Valverde, the rain still continuing to fall in torrents, and bivouacked near Freixadas. Here they were met by Lord Wellington, who came up from head-quarters at Alverca early in the morning, on hearing of the affair at the Coa. By him the Battalion were ordered into the village of Freixadas, where they were housed until the 28th.

On that day they arrived at Celorico, and hutted themselves by cutting down branches of the trees in a wood. Here, on August 4, Craufurd’s Division was divided into two brigades; one under Colonel Sidney Beckwith, consisting of the right wing of the 95th, the 43rd and the 3rd Portuguese Caçadores; the other, under Colonel Barclay of the 52nd, consisting of his own regiment, the left wing of the 95th and the 1st Caçadores. The Battalion remained at Celorico until August 5, when it was ordered to the front to support cavalry; and for about a fortnight or three weeks it was constantly on the move, the latter part of the time in heavy and continuous rain for three or four days. Early in September the army began its retreat, being covered by the Battalion and the other regiments of Craufurd’s Division as a rear-guard. On the 20th they marched before daylight from Celorico, and crossing the Mondego by a ford, fell back by the road from Viseu to Coimbra. On the 23rd, the enemy’s advanced guard pressing the cavalry of the rear-guard, Lord Wellington, who was present, ordered Craufurd to retire by the road leading to Busaco. This was effected during the two following days; on both of which the French pressed the rear-guard, composed of some companies of Riflemen and the 52nd and of some cavalry, with cavalry and infantry skirmishers intermixed, and some light guns; but the retreat was effected in good order and with little loss. The Battalion on both those nights threw forward picquets to support the cavalry.

On the 25th, when about a league and a half from Busaco, the enemy pressed the British cavalry so hard that the rear company of the Battalion had to face about and check them; and soon after the left wing of the Battalion was halted in a fir-wood, behind the village of Mora Morta, and effectually stopped them until the Light Division drew into the Sierra of Busaco, where the rest of the army were at this time assembled in position. This was an important and well-performed service; for Craufurd had kept his Division too long in an advanced position; and it was not without some difficulty that, protected by these four companies of Riflemen, he moved the Division into its position on the heights.

The right wing of the Battalion under Beckwith was halted in the village of Sula, at the foot of the hill of Busaco, where they were smartly cannonaded from the opposite heights, but without loss; and at night they were withdrawn from Sula, leaving a picquet in that village, and stationed among the rocks on the face of the hill, right and left of the road leading to Coimbra.

On the 26th Massena was engaged in bringing up his forces. Some infantry was pushed into a wood close to Sula, and skirmishing took place between them and the picquet of the Battalion there; and the companies attached to Barclay’s brigade, in an adjacent village, were also attacked. This continued all the day; and as this constant interchange of fire was very harassing, the companies on picquet were relieved about every two hours. At last, at nightfall this skirmishing and fire ceased, and nothing indicated the presence of the vast hosts but the numerous watch-fires, which illuminated the sides of the mountains, divided only by a narrow valley.