the whole French army was collected in the woods between Espeja, Gallegos, and Fuentes d'Honor, their superiority in cavalry having protected them from pursuit. They broke up on the following night, and at length crossed the Agueda, leaving Almeida to its fate. The whole loss of the British and their allies on these two days, was not much short of 1700 in killed, wounded, and missing, of all descriptions. That of the French, though not precisely known, must have been very considerable; besides a number of prisoners taken from them, they left 400 dead in the village of Fuentes d'Honor, against which their principal efforts were directed.

The garrison of Almeida, commanded by general Brennier, evacuated that place on the night of the 10th, after having blown up a part of the works. They marched They marched n great silence, dexterously winding their way through the several bodies of blockaders so as not to be perceived, till they had nearly reached the bridge over the Agueda. They were, however, pursued as soon as the alarm was given, and in curred a considerable loss; but the remainder were protected by a French division which had not yet quitted the bank of that river. The whole of the French army then continued its retreat towards the river Tormes. In the mean time the investment of Badajos by the allied army, under marshal Beresford, which had been interrupted by a sudden inundation of the Guadiana, and the consequent destruction of the bridge over that river, was renewed, and the bridge was restored. The preparations for a siege being completed, ap proaches were made, which produced two sorties from the fort of St. Christoval, attended with considerable loss to the gar rison. On the 12th of May, marshal Beresford being informed that marshal Soult, having quitted Seville, and formed a Junction with general La Tour Maubourg, was advancing with the intention of attacking the allied army, and relieving Badajos, suspended his operations against the town, and sent his heavy artillery and stores to Elvas, and concentrated his force to withstand the threatened assault. He marched

forward to meet the enemy, and took a position near the village of Albuera; and on the morning of the 16th, having been joined by a Spanish force under general Blake, he drew up his troops in two lines parallel to the river of Albuera, on the ridge of ground gradually ascending from it, and covering the roads to Badajos and Valverde. The French did not long delay their attack, in which their principal object seemed to be to push across the river, beyond the right of the allies, and endeavor to turn their flank, whilst another attack was directed against the river and bridge of Albuera. The Spanish troops who were posted on the heights to the right of the line, after a gallant resistance, were driven from their ground, which was occupied by the enemy; and as this situa tion enabled them to keep up a raking fire upon the whole position of the allies, it became necessary to attempt its recovery. A vigorous effort for this purpose was made by the division of general Stewart, headed by himself. At the beginning of the action a heavy storm of rain had come on, which, with the smoke from the firing, rendered it impossible to discern any thing distinctly, which circumstance, with the nature of the ground, had greatly favored the enemy in forming his columus and making his attack. The right brigade of general Stewart's division, commanded by lieutenant-colonel Colborne, was bravely charging the enemy with the bayonet, when a body of Polish horse lancers coming unperceived, turned their flank, and charged them in the rear. A dreadful carnage en sued, by which some regiments were nearly annihilated; for these ferocious assailants never spared a wounded or fallen foe. One regiment alone escaped the fury of this attack, and kept its ground till the arrival of the third brigade, under majorgeneral Houghton, who fell pierced with wounds as he was cheering his men to advance. At length the enemy was forced to abandon the post he had gained, and was driven back with great slaughter across the Albuera. After his main attack was defeated, he relaxed in that of the village, where he had never been able to make ary

impression, and the battle having continued without cessation from nine till two, the remainder of the day was spent in cannonading and skirmishing. Soult retired to the ground he had previously occupied; and on the night of the 17th he commenced his retreat towards Seville by the road he had came, leaving Badajos to its own defence, and relinquishing many of his wounded to the care of the victors. That the action of Albuera was really a victory on the part of the allies, the result rendered undeniable, for the French general was completely foiled in his attempt, and was obliged to quit the purpose he had in view. It was however so dearly purchased, that in a sober estimate, the day will perhaps rather be reckoned among the disastrous than the triumphant ones, for the loss incurred seems to have exerted a serious influence on subsequent transactions. That of the British alone exceed ed 4000 in killed, wounded, and missingof the latter, however, a great part after wards found means to rejoin the regiments, The Portuguese loss amounted to about 350; that of the Spaniards is not ascertained, but must have been heavy. It is computed by marshal Beresford that the loss of the French of every kind could scarcely fall short of 9000. By an intercepted letter from general Guzan to Soult some time after the battle, it appears that he had more than 6000 wounded under his conduct.

Within the trivial space where the stress of the battle lay not less than 7000 men were found lying on the ground, and the rain which poured from these heights, literally reddened the rivulets with blood. A captain of the 57th, who was severely wounded, directed his men to lay him on the ground at the head of his company, and thus continued to give his orders. Marshal Beresford saved his life by his dexterity and personal strength. As he was encouraging his troops after the charge of the Polish lancers, one of these men at tacked him, avoiding the thrust he seized the man by the throat and threw him off his horse, the lancer recovered from his fall to make a second thrust at him but

at the very moment was shot by one of the general's orderlies. Colonel sir William Myers leading on that brigade which recovered the fortune of the field, exclaimed, "It will be a glorious day for the fusileers." In ascending the ground his horse was wounded; another was brought which he had scarcely mounted when a ball struck him under the hip and past upward obliquely through the intestines. He did not fall, attempted to proceed, and when he was carried off the field seemed to forget his own sufferings in his pride at the conduct of his brave companions. At the close of the battle the 37th regiment were found lying in ranks as they were drawn up with every wound in the front.

1811.

Lord Wellington who with his characteristic zeal and activity had repaired to Elvas immediately after the final retreat of the French from the neighbourhood of Almeida, but was unable to arrive in time for the battle, directed that Badajos should be closely invested upon the right of the Guadiana on the 25th of May, and afterwards renewed the operations of the siege. The enemy had withdrawn their main body upon Llerend, and had their advanced posts of cavalry at Usagre, near which place, on the 25th, the allied cavalry fell in with that of the French, and charged them, though much superior in number. with so much gallantry that they were driven from the field with considerable loss.

The siege of Badajos was pushed with vigor, and a breach having been effected in the fort of Christoval, an attempt was made on the night of the 6th of June to storm that outwork. The escarp, however, had been so well cleared by the defenders that it was found impossible to mount, and the assailants were obliged to retire with some loss. The fire from the batteries on the three following days having apparently rendered the breach practicable, a second attempt was made on the night of the 9th, but the activity of the enemy in removing the rubbish again rendered all the efforts of the assailants ineffectual, and they suffered considerably before they received orders to retreat. In these endeavors

about 300 men were killed and wounded, of whom there was an unusual proportion of officers.

It had been lord Wellington's expectation that the reduction of Badajos could be effected before the second week in June, at which time he supposed that the reinforcements for the enemy's southern army detached from Castile would join marshal Soult. On the 10th he received an intercepted despatch from Soult to Marmont, announcing the intention of collecting the whole of the French forces in Estremadura; and he had reason to be lieve that Drouet's corps from Toledo would have joined the southern army by the 10th. Accounts also reached him which left no doubt of the destination of the army of Portugal (as it was calle 1,) for the southward. It became therefore absolutely necessary to raise the siege of Badajos, which lord Wellington put in execution, still, however, maintaining a blockade. The advance of the enemy finally determined him to quit the blockade, and to withdraw the allied troops across the Guadiana, which was effected on the 17th, without loss of any kind. On the 20th the French began to appear in the neighbourhood of Badajos with an army composed of all their force from Castile, except the garrison of Madrid and all that of Andalusia, with the exception of what was necessary to maintain their position before Cadiz, and the body commanded by Sebastiani in the eastern part of that kingdom. They occupied both banks of the Guadiana, from Badajos to Merida, and made various movements towards the frontiers of Portugal with the intention of cutting off detachments of the allies, but with inconsiderable success. On the 11th of July the army of Portugal broke up from its position on the Guadiana and moved towards Truxillo, whence they afterwards marched farther to the north. Lord Wel lington who had been strongly posted on the Portuguese border in Alentejo, now moved his army to cantonments in the Lower Beira; and thus the seat of war was transferred from the vicinity of Badajos.

In the course of these manoeuvres the

skill, activity, and firmness of the English was fully equalled by the courage of the Spaniards. In the recent battle of Albuera if the heights had not been reconquered by the irresistible bravery of the combined troops, the army would have been not only defeated but destroyed, in consequence of the enemy's superiority in cavalry. Ensign Thomas who bore the flags was surrounded and asked to give them up; Not but with my life! was his answer, and his life was the instant forfeit. Ensign Walsh who carried the other colour had the staff broken in his hand by a cannon ball, and fell at the same moment severely wounded, but more anxious for the preservation of his charge than of himself, he separated the flag from the shattered staff, and secured it in his bosom from whence he produced it when his wounds were dressed after the battle. Similar examples of heroism were not wanting among the Portuguese and Spaniards, and had the discipline of the latter been equal 1811. to their zeal and their intrepidity, they might have fought the contest of vengeance and of liberty unaided by allies.

Albuera was not the only field upon which brave blood was expended in unprofitable but glorious achievements. When Soult marched against Badajos hoping to co-operate with Massena in the conquest of Portugal, he made numerous drafts from the army before Cadiz, and in consequence of this circumstance the Spanish government determined on an expedition for the purpose of making a combined attack upon its rear. M. Manuel de Lapena was appointed to the command. Lieutenantgeneral Graham the commander of the British troops at Cadiz, consented to act under him. This officer was now in his sixtyfirst year. He had past the former part of his life in the enjoyment of domestic comfort, amusing himself with rural sports, with improving his estates, and with the pursuits of literature. After eighteen years of conjugal happiness his wife died on her way to the south of France, and Mr. Graham seeking for relief in change of place and in active occupations, joined lord Hood as a volunteer at Toulon, in 1793.

Here he distinguished himself greatly by his exertions and intrepidity, and on his return to England, obtained permission to raise a regiment, but not without great difficulty, and studious discouragement from the commander-in-chief. He was at Mantua in 1796, and escaped captivity by cutting his way through the besiegers, in a night sortie, and he bore a distinguished part at Malta, when sir Alexander Ball, under circumstances the most painful, and with means the most inadequate, recovered that island from the enemy. The time of life at which he entered the army, and the mode of doing so, inconsfstaut as it was with the rules of the war office, operated as a bar to his promotion and he would probably never have risen in rank if general Moore had not experienced great assistance from him in his retreat and at the battle of Corunna, and sent home so strong a recommendation as could not be neglected.

The troops ordered for the service, marched from Isla on the night of the 17th of February, and embarked the next morning at day-break in Cadiz bay. In the evening of the 21st, the expedition sailed it arrived off Tariffa on the following day; but, as the weather proved unfavorable for a landing at that place, it proceeded to Algesiras, where the troops landed on the morning of the 23rd of February. On the 24th, they marched to Tariffa, through a beautiful and romantic tract of country, without any other road than merely a mule path, which was found scarcely practicable for the advance of the cavalry; all the artillery therefore was sent forward by water.

On the 27th, the Spanish troops under general Lapena, arrived from Cadiz, and landed at Tariffa. The allied army marched on the 28th, to Facinas, always bivouacing. After long and fatiguing night marches, the troops, on the morning of the 5th, proceeded to attack the enemy's position opposite the point of Santi Petri, and the reserve halted east side of the heights of Barrosa, sometimes called Sierra del Puerco.

The attack of the van-guard on the ene

my's lines succeeded in this operation; it was supported by half of the prince of Auglona's division, the other half remaining on the heights already mentioned, and it should seen, that previous to the movement of the British to that point, which the Spanish commander thought it necessary to strengthen, general Lapena offered lieutenant-general Graham his option, whether the atter should move for that purpose with his corps, or continue posted: on the heights; but the lieutenant-general declining to make an election, the former decided that the reserve should march, leaving two battalions to join the remainder of the Spanish forces, to preserve the position on the heights. In addition, however, to two battalions of Walloon and Cuidad real guards, lieutenant-general Graham left colonel Brown's battalion, composed of flank companies, which was posted at the Torre Barrosa. The lieutenant-general, therefore, had every reason to suppose the general-in-chief would remain on that position during the day.

con

Lieutenant-general Graham's division being halted on the eastern slope of the Barrosa height for about two hours, was marched about twelve o'clock through a wood towards the Torre Bermeja, (cavalry patroles having previously been sent towards Chiclana without meeting with the enemy ;) on the march the lieutenantgeneral received notice that the enemy had appeared in force on the plain, and was advancing towards the height of Barrosa.-Lieutenant-general Graham sidering the position as the key to that of Santi Petri, he immediately countermarched, in order to support the troops left for its defence; and the alacrity with which this manoeuvre was executed, served as a favorable omen. Before the British troops could get entirely disentangled from the wood, the Spanish troops on the Barrosa hill were seen retiring from it, while the enemy's left wing was rapidly ascending, at the same time his right wing stood on the plain at the edge of the wood, within cannon-shot. A retreat in the face of such an enemy, already within reach of the easy communication by the sea bank

army in all the danger of being attacked during the unavoidable confusion of the different corps arriving on the narrow edge of Bermeja, 'nearly at the same time. The British general, therefore, determined on an immediate attack.

The heights of Barrosa extend to the shore on one side, and slope down to the plain on the other towards a lake called the Laguna del Puerco; the ridge itself was called Cabeza del Puerco, by the Spaniards, but it will retain the better name, which was this day acquired for it. Victor, with 8000 men, advanced against this point. The troops which had been left there were the regiments of Siguenza and Cantabria, a battalion of Ciudad real, another of the Walloon guards, and a battalion of the king's German legion. Ignorant of Graham's movements, and knowing themselves unable to maintain the post against such very superior numbers, they thought it best to form a junction with the British, whose rear they should by this means cover, and be themselves covered on the way by the pine forest through which they were to pass. Accordingly they made this movement with perfect coolness, and in perfect order, general Whittingham covering one flank, brigadier D. Juan de la Cruz Mourgeon the other; for on both sides the enemy endeavored to envelope them.

Graham, mean mean time, was marching rapidly back, but at a distance from the shore; whereas, these troops kept near it, apparently to lessen the danger of being turned on that side by the enemy's light infantry. In such intricate and delicate circumstances, it was impossible to pre serve order in the columus; and before the troops were quite disentangled from the wood, they saw that the detachment which they were hastening to support had left the heights, that the left wing of the French were rapidly ascending there, and their right stood upon the plain, on the edge of the wood, within cannon-shot. General Graham's object in countermarching, had been to support the troops in maintaining the heights; "but a retreat," he says,

within reach of the easy communication by the sea-beach,) must have involved the whole allied army in all the danger of being attacked during the unavoidable confusion of the different corps arriving on the narrow ridge of Bermeja nearly at the same time." Trusting, therefore, to the courage of his men, and regardless of the numbers and position of the enemy, he resolved immediately to attack them.

Marshal Victor commanded the French; general Ruffin, whose name was well known in the history of this wicked war, commanded the left upon the hill, general Leval the right. Graham formed his troops as rapidly as the circumstances required ; there was no time to restore order in his columns, which had unavoidably been broken in marching through the wood. The brigade of guards, lieutenant-colonel Brown's flank battalion of the 28th, lieutenant-colonel Norcott's two companies of the 2nd rifle corps, and major Acheson, with a part of the 57th, separated from the regiment in the wood, formed on the right under brigadier-general Dilkes. Colonel Wheatly's brigade, with three companies of the Coldstream guards, under lieutenantcolonel Jackson, (separated likewise from his battalion in the wood,) and lieutenantcolonel Bernard's flank battalion, formed on the left; major Duncan, opening a powerful battery of ten guns in the centre, protected the formation of the infantry, and as soon as they were thus hastily got together, the guns were advanced to a more favorable position, and kept up a most destructive fire.

Leval's division, notwithstanding the havoc which this battery made, continued to advance in imposing masses, opening its fire of musketry. The British left wing advanced against it firing. The three companies of guards, and the 87th, supported by the remainder of the wing charged them with true British bravery ; colonel Bilson, with the 28th, and lieutenant-colonel Prevost, with part of the 67th, zealously supported their attack, which was decisive in this part of the field. An eagle, the first which the British had