: Sats, ACERS Bh 
STATE OF PUBLIC 
[uly te 
AFFAIRS IN JUNE. 
Containing official Papers and authentic Documents. 
_ a 
SPAIN AND PORTUGAL. 4 
‘Copy of a dispatch from Lieutenant- 
general. Lord Viscount Wellington, 
dated Quinta de Gramicho, 30th May. 
We invested Badajoz on the 25th inst. on 
@he right of the Guadiana, and, the ordnance 
and stores for the siege having been brought 
forward, we broke ground last night. The 
enemy have retired their main body upon Lle- 
rena, and hold the advanced post of their ca- 
valry at Usagte. I inclose the copy of the 
report of Major-general the Honourable Wm. 
Lumley, of a very galtant affuir of the cavalry 
near that place on the 25th. The Major-ge- 
neral has reported that he received very great 
assistance from Major Holmes, of the 3d dra- 
goon guards, who was acting in the depart- 
ment of the adjutant-general, and from Lieu- 
wenant Heathcote, of the royal dragoons, who 
qas acting in the department of the quarter- 
master-general, as well as from the officers 
mentioned in this report. 
Camp near Usagre, 2 a.m. May 26. 
_ Ssx,--Having driven the enemy’s rear guard 
from Usagre, Loccupied that post on the night 
of the 24th, by placing the Spanish troops in 
front of the town, with their Tiradores well 
Jn advance towards the enemy, and the Por- 
tugnese and British cavalry, with the four 
six-pounders, in rear of the place; a small 
brook, hollow and deep ravine, and narrow 
éefile being on this side of the town. About 
six o’clock yesterday morning it was reported 
to me, ‘that the enemy’s cavalry were advan- 
cing in force, and that there was reason to be~ 
lieve they were accompanied by artillery and 
infantry. Conceiving reports might exag~- 
werate the fact, and not wishing to yield tlie 
post to infetior numbers, the 13th light, dra- 
goons and Colonel Otway’s Portuguese brigade 
of cavalry. were ordered across the ravine to 
the left of the town, through the narrow fords 
@nd passes which had-been previously recon- 
noitred, and Brigadier-general Madden’s bri- 
gade of Portuguese cavalry in like manner to 
the right, with orders to retire by the same 
passes if necessary; the heavy brigade of 
British, with the guns, being still in reserve 
behind the téwn. Upon the nearer approach 
of the enemy, it was evident they were ad- 
wancing with the whole of their cavalry, and 
five or six heavy guns (eight.poundets), This 
being ascertained, and, upon opening their first 
‘gun, the line was ordered to retire, which 
they did slowly, in excellent order, and with- 
out loss; the Spanish troops filing on the main 
road through the town, which, had been left 
open for them, ~ A smart cannonade now 
commenced from the opposite heights, the 
@uperiority of numbers and weight of metal 
decidedly in favour of the enemy; but the 
; euperior skill and well-directed aim ef Cap- 
gin Lefevre and his corps, with only four six= 
pounders, was most pre-eminently conspi= 
cuous. The enemy now committed a most 
daring attempt, or rather an error, for which 
they were severely punished. In spite of two 
of our guns, which bore directly fora few 
paces on the road, three of their chosen regi- 
ments, 4th, 20th, and 26th, dashed through 
the town, and formed rapidly on the flank of 
the 3d dragoon guards, which corps, concealed 
by a small hill, I verity believe they did not 
see, and in front of the 4th dragoons; theme 
selves presenting two fronts. A charge of 
the 3d dragoon guards, was at this time ore 
dered on the right, and a simultaneous move- 
ment of the 4th dragoons, directed most judi- 
ciously by Brigadier-general Long, at the 
same moment on the left, where I had ree 
quested him to remain, decided the point.—« 
The enemy wavered hetore our cavalry reached 
them ; but almost in the same instant they 
were overturned, and apparently annihilated. 
The affair took place so near the brook and 
bridge, which immediately leads into the 
town, and which I had forbid the cavalry to 
enter, that it was impossible for them to pur~ 
sue 5 it is difficult therefore to decide upon 
the enemy’s less; many, severely wounded, 
escaped through the town, others threw them- 
selves off their horses, and escaped over the 
brook and through gardens; but, besides 78 
prisoners, 29 lay dead on the spot; many 
were also observed Jying dead on the bridge 
and in the first street ; anda peasant reports, 
that from S30 to 50 were sent off wounded to 
their rear on horses and cars. I must not 
omit to state, that a portion of the Count de 
Penne Villamur’s Spanish cavalry gallantly 
supported the charge on the left of the Sd 
dragoon guards, as I am informed Brigadier- 
general Madden’s brigade did on the right 3 
but the dust caused by the charge was so 
great, I was myself unable to observe on that 
flank. Iam positively assured from the re- 
port of the prisoners, that the enemy had 13 
regiments of cavalry in the field, which, 
though not exceeding‘from 2 to 300, men each, 
gave them 6o great a superiority over the 
force under my orders, composed of three nae 
tions, many of them as yet but little knowa 
to each other in cavalry movements, that I 
feel fully justified in not placing a deep ravine 
and defile in my rear, and attempting to de- 
fend the town, which is only ¢efensible by 
infantry, from an attack on the other side. 
T have the peculiar satisfaction to add, that 
the advantage gained has been almost blood- 
less on our part, although occasionally for a 
few seconds, of necessity exposed to the range 
of artillery and a charge made against a corps 
elite of the enemy, who, onthe other hand, 
visibly suffered from our artillery, in addition 
to those lost in the charge. 
(Here General Lumley returns his ace 
knowledgmeata. 
