APPENDIX to the CHRONICLE. 451 



majesty's principal secretaries of 

 state. 



Oporto, May VI, 1809. 

 My lord, 



I had the honour to apprize your 

 lordship on the 7th inst., that I in- 

 tended that the army should march 

 on the 9th from Coinibra to dispos- 

 sess the enemy of Oporto. 



The advanced guard and the ca- 

 valry had marched on the 7th, and 

 the whole had halted on tlie Sth to 

 afford time for marshal Beresford 

 with his corps to arrive upon the 

 Upper Douro. 



The infantry of the army was 

 formed into three divisions for this 

 expedition, of which two, the ad- 

 vanced guard, consisting of the Ha- 

 noverian legion, and brigadier-gen. 

 R. Stewart's brigade, with a brigade 

 of six-pounders, and a brigade of 

 three pounders, under lieutenant- 

 general Paget, and the cavalry un- 

 der lieutenant-general Payne, and 

 the brigade of guards ; brigadier- 

 gen. Campbell's and brigadier-gen. 



• brigades of infantry, with 



a brigade of six-pounders, under 

 lieutenant-gen. Sherbrooke, moved 

 by the high i-oad from Coimbra to 

 Oporto, and one composed of ma- 

 jor-gen. Hill's and brigadier-gen. 

 Cameron's brigades of infantry, and 

 a brigade of six-pounders, under 

 the command of major-general 

 Hill, by the road from Coimbra to 

 Aviero. 



On the 10th in the morning, be- 

 fore daylight, the cavalry and ad- 

 vanced guard crossed the Vouga 

 with the intention to surprise and 

 cut off four regiments of French 

 cavalry, and a battalion of infantry 

 and artillery, cantoned in Albcrga- 

 ria Nova and the neighbouring vil- 

 lages, about eight miles from that 

 river, in the last of which we failed ; 



but the superiority of the British 

 cavalry was evident throughout the 

 day ; we took some prisoners and 

 their cannon from them ; and the 

 advanced guard took up the posi- 

 tion of Oliviera. 



On the same day major-gen. Hill, 

 who had embarked at Aveiro, on 

 the evening of the 9th, arrived at 

 Ovar, in the rear of the enemy's 

 right ; and the head of lieut.-gen. 

 Sherbrooke's division passed the 

 Vouga on the same evening. 



On the 11th, the advanced guard 

 and cavalry continued to move on 

 the high road towards Oporto, with 

 major-gen. Hill's division in a pa- 

 rallel road, which leads to Oporto 

 from Ovar. 



On the arrival of the advanced 

 guard at Vendas Novas, between 

 Sonto Redondo and Grijon, they 

 fell in with the outposts of the ene- 

 my's advanced guard, consisting of 

 about four thousand infantry, and 

 somesquadrons of cavalry, strongly 

 posted on the heigiits above Gri- 

 jon, their front being covered by 

 woods and broken ground. The 

 enemy's left flank was turned by a 

 movement well executed by major- 

 general Murray, with brigadier- 

 general Langworth's brigade of the 

 Hanoverian legion ; while the 16th 

 Portuguese regiment of brigadier- 

 general Richard Stewart's brigade 

 attacked their right, and the rifle- 

 men of the 95tb, and the flank 

 companies of the 29th, 43rd, and 

 52nd of the same brigade under 

 major Way, attacked the infantry 

 in the woods and village in their 

 center. 



These attacks soon obliged the 

 enemy to give way, and the hon. 

 brigadier-gen. Charles Stewart led 

 two squadrons of the 16ih and 20th 

 dragoons, under the command of 



2 G 2 major 



