APPENDIX to the CHRONICLE. 371 



tnand, to detail to you the occur- 

 rences of the action which took 

 place in front of Corunna, on the 

 16th instant. It will be in your re- 

 collection, that about one in the af- 

 ternoon of thatday, theenemy, who 

 had in the morning received rein- 

 forcements, and who had placed 

 some guns in front of the right and 

 left of his line, was observed to be 

 moving troops towards his left flank, 

 and forming various columns of at- 

 tack at that extremity of the strong 

 and commanding position, which 

 on the morning of the 15th, he had 

 taken in our immediate front. This 

 indication of his intention was im- 

 mediately succeeded by the rapid 

 and determined attack which he 

 made upon your division, which oc- 

 cupiedtherightofourposition. The 

 events which occurred during that 

 period of the action you are fully 

 acquainted with. The first effort 

 of the enemy was met by the com- 

 mander of the forces, and by your- 

 self, at the head of the 4'2nd regi- 

 ment, and the brigade under major- 

 general lord William Bentinck. — 

 The village on your right became 

 ,an object of obstinate contest. I 

 lament to say, that soon after the 

 severe wound which deprived the 

 army of your services, lieutenant- 

 general sir John Moore, who had 

 just directed the most able disposi- 

 tions, fell by a cannon-shot. The 

 troops, though not unacquainted 

 with the irreparable loss they had 

 (Sustained, were not dismayed, but 

 .by the most determined bravery not 

 only repelled every attempt of the 

 enemy to gain ground, but actually 

 forced him to retire, although he 

 had brought up fresh troops in sup- 

 port of those originally engaged. 

 fhe enemy, finding himself foiled 

 in every attempt to force the right 



of the position, endeavoured by 

 numbers to turn it. A judicious 

 and well-timed movement, which 

 was made by major general Paget, 

 with the reserve, which corps had 

 moved out of its cantonments to 

 support the right of the army, by 

 a vigorous attack, defeated this in- 

 tention. The major-general hav- 

 ing pushed forward the 95th (rifle 

 corps) and 1st battalion, 52nd re- 

 giments, drove the enemy before 

 him, and in his rapid and judicious 

 advance, threatened the left of the 

 enemy's position. This circum- 

 stance, with the position of lieute- 

 nant-general Eraser's division (cal- 

 culated to give still further security 

 to the right of the line) induced tlie 

 enemy to relax his efforts in that 

 quarter. They were however more 

 forcibly directed towards the cen- 

 ter, where they were again success- 

 fully resisted by the brigade under 

 major-gen. Manningham, forming 

 the left of your division; and a part 

 of that under major-general Leith, 

 forming the right of the division 

 under my orders. Upon the left, 

 the enemy at first contented him- 

 self with an attack upon our pic- 

 quets, which however in general 

 maintained their ground. Finding 

 however, his efforts unavailing on 

 the right and center, he seemed de- 

 termined to render the attack upon 

 the left more serious, and had suc- 

 ceeded in obtaining possession of 

 the village through which the great 

 road to Madrid passes, and which 

 was situated in front of that part of 

 the line. From this post, however, 

 he was soon expelled, with consi- 

 derable loss, by a gallant attack of 

 some companies of the2nd battalion 

 14th regiment, under lieutenant- 

 colonel Nicholls ; before five in the 

 evening, we had not only success- 

 2 B 2 fully 



