196 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1812. 



and the British troops under his 

 orders, upon this, as he has done 

 upon former occasions during the 

 last three months. 



Capt. O'Donoghue, ofthe^Tth 

 regiment, acting aid-de-camp to 

 Colonel Skerrett, has charge of this 

 dispatch, and will give your lord- 

 ship any details relative to the late 

 events at TarifFa. 



I have the honour to be, &c. 

 (Signed) G. Cooke, 



Major-General. 

 The Earl of Liverpool, &c. 



Cadiz, Jan. 10. 

 My Lord, — I last night received 

 a dispatch from Colonel Skerrett, 

 dated the 1st instant, of which I 

 have the honour to transmit a co- 

 py, reporting the defeat of a strong 

 column of the enemy on the day 

 before, in an assault of the breach 

 which they had made in the wall 

 of Tariffa. I received at the same 

 time intelligence from Lieutenant- 

 General Campbell, that the French 

 had broke up from before the 

 place on the night of the 4!th, leav- 

 ing their artillery, &c. and retiring 

 by a pass of La Pena, under the 

 fire of the navy. I have this morn- 

 ing received Colonel Skerrett's re- 

 port of that most satisfactory event 

 by his aid-de-carap. Captain O'Do- 

 noghue, and I beg leave to refer 

 your lordship to copies of them. 

 I have, &c. 

 George Cooke, Maj.-Gen. 

 Gen. Lord Vise. Wellington, &c. 



Tariffa, Jan. 1. 

 Sir, — In my last I had the ho- 

 nour to state, that the enemy com- 

 menced to batter in breach on the 

 29th of December ; since which 

 period, until yesterday, lie kept up 



a heavy fire of cannon on the 

 breach, and of shells on the town, 

 causeway, and island. At eight 

 o'clock on the morning of the 31st 

 Dec. a strong column was seen 

 rapidly advancing to the breach ; 

 our musketry several times check- 

 ed the enemy ; and the firm front 

 and intrepid behaviour of the 

 troops, in less than an hour, gain- 

 ed a complete victory. The most 

 bold of the enemy fell near the 

 foot of the breach, and the mass of 

 the column made a precipitate re- 

 treat. 



The situation of the enemy's 

 wounded, with which the ground 

 was covered between his battery 

 and our fire, where they must in- 

 evitably have perished, induced mo, 

 from motives of compassion, to 

 hoist a flag of truce to carry them 

 off. Some were brought into the 

 place over the breach ; but from 

 the extreme difficulty attending 

 this, I allowed the enemy to carry 

 the remainder away. General La- 

 val, the French commander-in- 

 chief, expressed his acknowledg- 

 ments for the conduct of the British 

 and Spanish nations on this occa- 

 sion, in the most feeling and grate- 

 ful terms. We have made prison- 

 ers, ten officers, and twenty or 

 thirty soldiers ; the enemy's loss 

 has been very severe. The co- 

 lumn that attacked the breach was 

 two thousand men composed of 

 all the grenadiers and voltigeurs 

 of the army. The enemy invested 

 this town on the 20th of Decem- 

 ber, since which period, one thou- 

 sand British and seven or eight 

 hundred Spanish troops, with only 

 a defence of a wall, which appears 

 to have been built as a defence 

 against archery, and before the 



use 



