Colonel peter Ibawfeer >.w 



Young Hawker first smelt powder in a skirmish on 

 May loth, when the I4th Light Dragoons charged 

 the French cavalry and inflicted some loss. On 

 May 1 2th his regiment was engaged in the memor- 

 able Passage of the Douro, and on crossing the river 

 was ordered to advance and support the infantry. A 

 squadron of the I4th formed up in threes, and passing 

 along the whole British line, which cheered them lustily, 

 rode straight for the enemy. The first troop, which 

 numbered but two-and-fifty men, bore the brunt of the 

 charge, and lost ten killed and twenty wounded, whilst 

 three out of five officers were put hors de combat. 

 Hawker had his horse shot under him the moment 

 after a ball had grazed his upper lip ; but he fought his 

 way on foot out of the melee, and regained the British 

 lines unhurt. The little band of survivors drove before 

 them nearly three hundred prisoners, and altogether the 

 affair was a most brilliant one. The I4th were publicly 

 complimented by the Commander-in-Chief on their 

 gallantry ; but the highest tribute to their prowess was 

 that paid by the general in command of the French, 

 who said that they must have been drunk or mad, 

 as the brigade they attacked was nearly two thousand 

 strong. 



This feat of arms entitled the I4th to have the word 

 " Douro " inscribed on the regimental colours, and thirty 

 years afterwards Colonel Hawker was agreeably re- 

 minded of the part which he had played in that dashing 

 affair. His old regiment gave a picnic at Hampton 

 Court, to which he was invited. The reception awarded 

 him was such as to bring the tears to his eyes. None of 



