On July 5, 1811, another company (Captain Hart’s) embarked at Portsmouth and joined the Light Division on the frontiers of Portugal in September. These two companies then, as we shall see, acted with the 1st Battalion and the Light Division, and distinguished themselves at the two great sieges (Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajos) of the next year.
A further reinforcement of two companies (Captains Duncan’s and Ferguson’s) left England in May 1812, and landed at Lisbon at the latter end of that month. They joined the army in July, shortly before the battle of Salamanca, and were attached to the Light Division. At Salamanca and during the advance to Madrid the four companies of this Battalion were commanded by Major Wilkins; but soon after they reached Madrid, Colonel Wade arrived from England with the Staff of the Battalion, and took command. And on the retreat from Madrid, the other two companies (Cadoux and Jenkins’), which had been in Andalusia with Skerrett, having, as we have seen, joined Lord Wellington’s army early in November, the strength of the 2nd Battalion in the Peninsula consisted (as did the 1st Battalion) of six companies until the close of the war.
I have thus brought down the details of the movements of this Battalion to this period, because being enfeebled by the results of the disastrous Walcheren campaign, they were enabled only to join the army in the field by single, or at most by two, companies at a time, as their numbers were recruited and their health was restored. Its marches, its actions and its glories will henceforward form part of the general history of the Regiment, as will that of the 3rd Battalion, which, until its junction with the other Battalions, I will now proceed to particularise. But I will in as far as record or other information enables me to do so, distinguish the feats of arms and the losses of each Battalion.
The 3rd Battalion on its formation in 1809 was stationed at Brabourn Lees; and the drill and discipline of this new levy were carried on so vigorously and effectively that it was able early in 1810 to send three companies to Cadiz. And on July 11 in that year two more companies and the head-quarters, under the command of Colonel Barnard, embarked at Portsmouth on board the ‘Mercury’ frigate, and landed at Cadiz on the 29th. Cadiz was at this time besieged by the army under command of Marshal Victor; who occupied all the surrounding towns and villages except Cadiz itself and the Isla de Leon, their advanced posts being pushed forward to near the river Santi-Petri, except near the bridge of Zuazo, the only communication with the mainland. Here the English picquets were thrown forward beyond the bridge and on the road to Seville, which forms a causeway across the marshy plain intersected with saltpans. And so well was it defended by our picquets, that, as Ford observes, this bridge was the pons asinorum of the French; for they never could get over it.
Here the 3rd Battalion, and the two companies of the 2nd under Norcott, remained until February 1811, when they embarked under the command of General Graham on the 18th, and landed at Algeçiras on the 24th. Having bivouacked on a height near Algeçiras, they moved the next day to Tarifa, where they halted until the 26th. The two companies of the 2nd Battalion were attached to the brigade of Guards commanded by Brigadier-General Dilkes, and the four companies of the 3rd Battalion,[84] with two companies of the 47th, were brigaded under Colonel Barnard.[85]
On March 1 they marched about twelve miles and bivouacked on some high ground; and the following day reached Casas Viejas, where they bivouacked on a hill, and suffered much from the bitterly cold weather. On the 3rd, having started before daylight, they reached about mid-day a lagoon through which was a ford. The Spaniards, who led the column, hesitated so long in attempting to cross, that General Graham, out of all patience, proposed to General La Peña to let the British troops advance. The 3rd Battalion was the leading regiment, and at once entered the ford in column of sections, and marched straight through it, the water reaching about to their waist. The rest of the English force followed; and the Spaniards, shamed into imitation, followed their example. The troops marched forward, and halted that night in an olive-wood on very high ground, near Vejer; the soldiers suffering from the extreme cold, which was severely felt in consequence of their wetting in crossing the lagoon, and the scarcity of wood for firing. They halted here until the evening of the 4th, when a little after dark they marched to the village of Conil, and on the morning of the 5th reached the plain of Chiclana, and halted on the eastern slope of the knoll of Barrosa. This is a ridge running in from the sea-coast about a mile and a half, and overlooking the plain, which is bounded on one side by the shore, and on the other by the forest of Chiclana. In our front was a pine-wood. About twelve o’clock General Graham put his troops in motion, and the 3rd Battalion were ordered down the hill and into the wood in order to take possession of the height of Bermeja. But they had not long moved, when Graham was informed that the enemy had debouched from the forest, and having forced the troops left on the height, were ascending the hill of Barrosa. The 3rd Battalion were instantly countermarched, and ordered to get to the plain and engage the enemy as soon as possible. On emerging from the pine-wood they found themselves in front of two battalions of the 8th Regiment, one of grenadiers, the other of voltigeurs. Two companies under Barnard were left to cover and protect the guns; while the other Riflemen of this Battalion, inclining to the left, and extending as they came up the hill, soon became engaged with their opponents. In the same way Norcott, in command of the two 2nd Battalion companies forming the rear-guard, as soon as he heard from a sergeant of the German hussars of the appearance of the enemy, put his column to the right about, and extending his two companies, made his way out of the wood; and on getting out of it and seeing the enemy advancing, he put his right to the cliffs to cover the British regiments then filing out of the wood, and was soon engaged with the enemy’s voltigeurs; and the Guards and 67th having advanced, he placed his Riflemen on the flanks of the brigade, and with them advanced against the enemy’s line.[86]
E. Weller, Litho.