London Gazette.-Dispatches from Major-Gen. Ross. scale, to the rank they held at the time when wounded, and commencing from the 25th December, 1811. This allowance will be granted in general according to regimental rank, but in cases in which, in consequence of their brevet rank, officers shall have been employed at the time when they were wounded, in discharge of duties superior to those attached to their regimental commissions, it will be given by the brevet rank. Given at the War-office, this 20th day of June, 1812. By command of His Royal Highness the Prince Regent, in the name and on the behalf of His Majesty, (Signed) PALMERSTON. Scale referred to in the preceding Regulation. RANKS.-Field Marshal, General, or Lieutenant-general command- Rates Pensions. £400 Major-general, or Brigadier-general commanding a brigade....... £350 Major; *Deputy Adjutant-general; *Deputy Quarter-master-general; £250 ... £200 Captain; *Assistant Adjutant general; *Assistant Quarter-master- Cornet; Ensign; Second Lieutenant; Regimental Quarter-master; ... £100 £70 £ 50 The Officers marked thus (*) to have the Allowance according to their Army Rank, if they prefer it. MILITARY CHRONICLE. AUGUST, 1812. CONTAINING THE GAZETTES COMPLETE, PROMOTIONS, &c. TO JULY 25. WAR DEPARTMENT. DOWNING STREET, July 1, 1812. A dispatch, of which the following is a copy, has been this day received at Lord Bathurst's office, addressed to the Earl of Liverpool, by Major-general Ross, commanding at Carthagena, dated May 22, 1812. London Gazette.-Dispatches from Major-Gen. Ross. MY LORD-I HAVE the honour to transmit herewith, for your lordship's information, the copy of my dispatch of this date, addressed to major-general Cooke, giving an account of the capture of the city of Almeria by a small Spanish force, which I lately informed your lordship had been embarked at this port, in British transports, under the orders of captain Adam, of his Majesty's ship Invincible. I have the honour to be, &c. ANDREW ROSS, Major-general. Extract of a letter from Major-general Ross, to Major-general Cooke, dated Carthagena, May 22, 1812. My letter, No. 17, of the 16th instant, would advise you of the progress of a combined expedition to the westward of this, according to the information which I had received up to that date. The result has now justified the sanguine hopes that every one entertained of the success of operations carried on under the direction of an officer of the zeal and ability possessed by captain Adam, of his Majesty's ship Invincible. Nothing could be better-timed than the movements of general Freire, who, in consequence of the information I sent to General O'Donnell, made an attack upon the enemy and drove him from Baza on the 13th, the same day on which the force under the command of captain Adam appeared off Almeria; that officer having judiciously taken time to send on shore, at some distance from the place, to ascertain the strength, position, and movements of the enemy, learned that they were in the place to the number of four or five hundred, including cavalry, and had not as yet made any detachments to assist in opposing general Freire; but early on the 14 instant, it appears that the French general had sent three couriers to Almeria, (no doubt ignorant of this expedition) to order the garrison to join him immediately, which it proceeded to do accordingly, and as it marched out, captain Adam landed the three hundred Spanish troops he had with him, under the command of colonel Alveor, and took possession of the place. The consequence of this has been, that captain Adam has been enabled to take or destroy a privateer and her two prizes; to blow up the castle of San Elmo, which is situated upon an almost inaccessible rock, and all the sea defences and batteries which protected the anchorage of this place, and formed a secure resort for the numerous privateers which have been long an annoyance to the British and Spanish trade on this coast. Captain Adam has also embarked all the serviceable guns, carriages, and ordnance stores he found in the place, totally destroying the remainder, and was busily employed on these services, and in forwarding the embarkation of a quantity of sulphur and lead from the king's mines, at six leagues from that place, under the direction of a Spanish Intendente, who had joined him with one hundred cavalry from Nijar, when he wrote to me on the 18th instant, in answer to the express I sent to him by a gun-boat, to acquaint him of general Freire's retreat before a superior force of the enemy at Baza. General O'Donnell was with me here two days, when he received dispatches from general Freire and colonel Alveor, informing him, that the inhabitants of Almeria had received the Spanish troops with the most enthusiastic demonstration of patriotism, on their entering that place on the 14th instant, and as, by the destruction of the fortifications, that port can no longer be useful to the enemy, either as a safe rendezvous for privateers and their prizes, or as a point d'appui to the right flank of their advanced position from whence they have hitherto annoyed general O'Donnel's army, it is to be hoped that these loyal inhabitants will be relieved from any future visits of their tyrannical oppressors, when the Spanish troops are withdrawn. London Gazette.-Major-Gen. Campbell.-Admiral Lord Keith. DOWNING STREET, July 1, 1812. A dispatch, of which the following is a copy, has been this day received at lord Bathurst's office, addressed to the carl of Liverpool, by lieutenant-general Campbell, commanding at Gibraltar, dated June 8, 1812. MY LORD-I have the honour to inform your lordship, that a severe action took place on the 1st instant, between general Ballasteros's force, and a division of the enemy, under the command of general Coursoux, in the vicinity of Bornos. The general has not sent me a detailed account, but his letter is herewith enclosed. This affair has been attended with considerable loss on both sides, that of the Spaniards not less than one thousand in killed, wounded, and missing, including about eighty officers. General Ballasteros retired to his original ground in the vicinity of the field of battle, in which operation the enemy did not venture to interrupt him; his wounded bave arrived at Algeziras; the enemy withdrew to his intrenchments. I have the honour to be, &c. COLIN CAMPBELL, Lieut.-gen. Head-quarters, camp before Hija Ruiz, June 2, 1812. MOST EXCELLENT SIR-I hasten to communicate to your excellency, the intelligence of the severe action which I fought yesterday, with the greater part of the troops under my command, in the plains of Bornos. This action is perhaps the most serious that has been fought since the beginning of our revolution; and an unexpected occurrence has alone deprived me of the glory of a complete victory. I am surrounded by wounded, none of whom, however, received their wounds with the bayonet or sword, although all arms were used. The loss of the French I believe to have been not less considerable, for they did not venture to throw a single party across the Guadalete, to molest my retreat. I remain in my positions, determined to perish with my troops, rather than abandon one wounded man; I am at a great loss how to provide for means of transporting them, as there are none in this part of the country. God preserve your excellency FRANCISCO BALLASTEROS. many years, To the most excellent Senor the governor of Gibraltar. ADMIRALTY OFFICE, July 4, 1812. Admiral Lord Keith has transmitted to John Wilson Croker, esq. a letter from captain Sir Home Popham, dated on board his Majesty's ship Venerable, off Lequitio, the 21st of last month, giving an account of an attack made upon the French troops in possession of that place, by the Spanish guerillas, aided by Sir Home, and the officers and men of his Majesty's ships under his orders. The enemy had possession of a hill fort commanding the town, calculated to resist any body of infantry; and also two hundred men posted in a fortified convent within the town, the walls of which were impervious to any thing less than an eighteen-pounder. The convent might have been destroyed by the ships; but as the town would have materially suffered, and as the guns of the Venerable made no visible impression on the fort, it was determined to erect a battery on a hill opposite to the latter, which the enemy considered as quite inaccessible to cannon, and in that confidence rested his security. A gun was accordingly landed in the forenoon of the 20th, (chiefly by the exertions of lieutenant Groves, of the Venerable) notwithstanding the sea was breaking with such violence against the rocks at the foot of the hill, that it was doubtful whether a boat could get near enough for that purpose. It was then hove up a short distance by a London Gazette.-Captain Usher, of the Hyacinth. moveable capstan; but this was found so tedious, that men and bullocks were sent for to draw it; and it was at length dragged to the summit of the hill, by thirty-six pair of bullocks, four hundred guerillas, and one hundred seamen, headed by the honourable captain Bouverie. It was immediately mounted, and fired its first shot at four in the afternoon. The gun was so admirably served, that at sun-set a practicable breach was inade in the wall of the fort, and the guerillas volunteered to storm it. The first party was repulsed, but the second gained possession without any considerable loss: several of the enemy escaped on the opposite side, and got into the convent. In the course of the evening the sea abated a little, and a landing upon the island of St. Nicholas was effected, though with some difficulty, by lieutenant O'Reilly, of the Surveillante; marines were also landed from that ship, the Medusa, and Rhin, with a carronade from each ship; and captain Malcolm took the command of the island during the night, whilst captain Sir George Collier was in the Venerable's battery on the hill. At dawn of the 21st, a twenty-four-pounder was brought to the east side of the town, within two hundred yards of the convent, and another was in the act of being landed upon St. Nicholas to bombard it, when the French commandant Gillort, chef de battalion, beat a parley, and surrendered, with the remainder of his party, consisting of two hundred and ninety men of the 119th regiment. The enemy's loss had not been ascertained, but it was supposed to be considerable, as the guerillas, who were better posted, and fired with more celerity, had fifty-six meu killed or wounded. Not a man was hurt in his Majesty's squadron, either by the surf, or the enemy. There were two eighteen-pounders mounted on the fort, and three small guns in the barracks; the latter, with the muskets, were given to the guerillas, who were also supplied with every description of military stores of which they stood in need. The guns in the fort were rendered useless, the fort destroyed, and the convent blown up. Sir Home Popham commends in high terms, the conduct of all the officers and men employed on this occasion; and expresses his sense of the assistance rendered by Sir Howard Douglas and general Carrol, who had embarked in the Venerable, and volunteered their services wherever they could be employed. ADMIRALTY OFFICE, July 4, 1812. Copy of a letter from Captain Usher, of his Majesty's ship Hyacinth, addressed tå commodore Penrose, at Gibraltar, and transmitted by the latter to John Wilson Croker, esq. dated, his Majesty's ship Hyacinth, off Almunecar, May 27, 1812. SIR-I had the honour to inform you, in my letter of the 20th instant, that the Termagant had destroyed the castle at Nersa, and that the guerillas came down from the mountains, and entered the town. I have now to acquaint you that I went on shore with captain Hamilton, and waited upon the guerilla leader, who informed me that the French had retreated to Almunecar, seven miles to the eastward, and that they had three hundred men there; and considering himself strong enough to attack them, hé proposed marching upon it without loss of time. As I was desirous to render the guerillas every assistance in my power, I promised him to anchor the ships in a position to place the enemy between our fire, which gave him great satisfaction, and his men great confidence. I accordingly bore up at four o'clock the following evening, (20th instant) with the Termagant and Basilisk, and anchored at point-black range, before the London Gazette.-Captain Usher, of the Hyacinth. castle, which we silenced in less than an hour. As the guerillas were to have arrived at seven o'clock, and there was no appearance of them at eight, Captain Hamilton volunteered to return to Nersa in his gig, to learn if any thing had occurred to prevent their moving forward; and at four in the morning he returned, and informed me that a reinforcement which they expected had not arrived, and that they waited for them before they could advance. At seven o'clock the enemy again opened his fire, having, during the night, mounted a howitzer in a breach made in the covered way to the castle; but by ten o'clock he was again silenced, and driven with great loss into the town, where they fortified themselves in the church and houses. Desirous of sparing the unfortunate inhabitants whom the French had thus cruelly exposed, I ceased firing; and having destroyed a privateer which lay at anchor under the castle, I at two o'clock weighed, and ran down to Nersa, for the purpose of concerting plans with the guerillas. On my arrival I had the satisfaction to meet a division of Ballasteros's guerillas, commanded by colonel Febrien, an officer of the truest patriotism, who, partaking of all the zeal of his general, immediately put himself and troops at my disposal. The roads through the mountains being very tedious, and as no time was to be lost, I resolved to take the infantry, consisting of about two hundred, on board; and I ordered the cavalry to move forward through the mountains immediately, and take a position in the rear of the enemy, whilst the infantry, with all the small-arm men and marines, were to land on his flanks. I am sorry that the delay of a calm gave the enemy time to learn our combined movement, as he instantly fled with great precipitation, and joining a corps of two hundred at Motril, within four miles of Almunecar, he retreated upon Granada. As soon as I arrived at my anchorage, I sent lieutenant Spilsbury, and a guerilla officer to hoist the respective flags on the castle; and immediately began to demolish the works, which are exceedingly strong, as it is built on a peninsula of high rock, scarped all round the sea face, and a wall thirty feet high. At the land side, the rock is excavated nearly thirty feet deep, and sixty wide, with a narrow drawbridge, which is the only entrance into the castle. I intend to fill up as much of the ditch as possible, by springing mines under each bastion. I found in the castle two brass twenty-fourpounders, six iron eighteen-pounders, a six-pounder and howitzer, which were spiked by the enemy. He has left a number of deserters, principally Germans and Flemings, who inform me that they were the whole of the foreigners in this battalion of the 32d regiment; they likewise inform me that they have long looked for an opportunity to desert, as they were dragged from their families, and forced into the French service: one of them has been eight years from his country. The enemy's loss was very severe, but cannot be ascertained, as the wounded were carried off in waggons. I feel greatly indebted to captain Hamilton for the able assistance he rendered me, and the judicious position he anchored his ship in; likewise to lieutenant French, of the Basilisk, who opened and supported a warm and well directed fire upon the enemy, while the ships were heaving in their springs, to bring their broadsides to bear. I am happy to inform you that we have had no loss, except the Termagant one man wounded, and the Basilisk one slightly. The privateer was one of Barbastro's small vessels, armed with two guns, and thirty or forty men. I cannot conclude without informing you that the officers and men wounded so recently at Malaga, came to their quarters. Lieutenant Spilsbury, whose wound is still open, and Mr. Bell the boatswain, who lost his arm, did not spare themselves. I have the honour to be, &c. To Commodore Penrose, Gibraltar. (Signed) THOMAS USHER. |