B II T A I N. 





PRINCE 



' 



Cattle of 



ruentes 

 D'rtonore, 

 itk March. 



driven, on the 19ih, with tlic loss of <>(X) prisoncra, 

 their loft retiring by Gouvea, through the moun- 

 tains upon Gu.irda, and the remainder of the array 

 by the high road upon Celerico. On the .3d of April, 

 several sharp actions were fought between the allied 

 army and the enemy's left, in which the latter were 

 uniformly beaten. In consequence of a storm of 

 rain, which darkened the atmosphere, the 43d 

 ai.d 9."ii h regiments, were unexpectedly involved in a 

 desperate conflict with the main budy of the French, 

 which they intended to turn. They succeeded, how- 

 ever, in repulsing the enemy, and in taking one how- 

 itzer, and 200 prisoners. On the 8th, the last troops 

 of the enemy crossed the Agueda, and on the 9th, 

 the allied army was in the vicinity of Almeida, on 

 the left bank of the Agueda, with their head quar- 

 ters at Villa Formosa. 



During the whole of this retreat, the French 

 Marshal displayed the most consummate skill. He 

 brought off his troops in one solid mass, covering 

 their rear in every march by the operations of one or 

 two corps d'armee, which availed themselves of the 

 strong positions of the country, and were always 

 closely supported by the main body. The loss of 

 the French in killed, wounded, and prisoners, since 

 the commencement of their retreat, has been com- 

 puted at 7000. The cruelties which they commit- 

 inst the inhabitants during the whole of their 

 march, are unexampled in the history of modern 

 war. They burnt the towns and villages through 

 which they passed. The convent of Alcobaca was 

 burnt by an order from the French head-quarters, 

 and the whole town of Leyria shared the same 

 fate. 



Lord Wellington having made arrangements for 

 the blockade of Almeida, left the command of his 

 army to Sir Brent Spencer, and proceeded to the ar- 

 my under Sir W. Beresford, to make arrangements 

 witli that officer, for carrying on the operations in 

 the south of Portugal. After remaining some time 

 in Estremadura, Lord Wellington received intelli- 

 gence from Sir Brent Spencer, that the enemy were 

 increasing their force on the Agueda, and returned to 

 his army on the 28th. On the 23d and 27th, Mas- 

 sena attacked thepicquets of the allies on the Ague- 

 da, but was repulsed with loss. On the 12th of May, 

 he collected a large force at Ciudad Rodrigo, and, on 

 the following day, the whole of the French army re- 

 crossed the Agueda. On the afternoon of the third, 

 they attacked, with a large force, the village of Fu- 

 elites d'Honore, which was bravely defended by seve- 

 ral battalions of light infantry. Perceiving the re- 

 peated efforts which were made by the enemy to ob- 

 tain possession of thb village, and the vast advanta- 

 ges which they would derive from it in their subse- 

 quent operations, Lord Wellington reinforced it suc- 

 cessively with the 71st, 79th, and 24-th regiments. 

 Colonel Cadogan, at the head of the 71st regiment, 

 charged the enemy, and drove them from the part of 

 the village of which they had obtained a momentary 

 possession ; and when niglu put an end to the con- 

 test, the whole of the village remained in our posses- 

 sion. On the morning of the 5th, the 8-b corps of 

 the enemy having obliged General Houstoi. to retire 

 with some loss, established themselves iu Poya Velho, 



while their cavalry turned the rigl.t 

 sion, between Poya Velho and Nave d'.'. 

 charge of the advanced guard of tl. . cavalry 



was repulsed by three squadrons of British drugo.*: 



-""V- -i 



and Colonel La Mottc, of the J St 1 1 chasseurs, and 

 some prisoners were taken. The principal exert: 

 of the enemy, however, were directed against . 

 tea d'Honore [ and though the whole of the > 

 corps was, at different periods of the day, employed 

 in the attack of this village, they were never able to 

 gain morethan a temporary possession of it. The con- 

 teat in this quarter lasted till night, when the British 

 troops maintained their post. 



On the 7th the French army began to retreat, and 

 on the 10th they crossed the Agueda; having com- 

 pletely failed in their attempt to relieve Almeida. In 

 the actions on the 3d and 5th, the French sustained 

 a loss of nearly 7000 in killed, wounded, and prison- 

 ers. In the village of Fuentes d'Honore, they left 

 400 of their dead. The loss of the allies amounted 

 to 184 killed, 1576 wounded, and 316 missing. 



In the south of Portugal, the army of General 

 Beresford was equally successful. Olivenza surren- 

 dered at discretion on the 15th of April, and mea- 

 sures were immediately taken for the siege of Bada- 

 jos. On the 10th of May, however, Sonlt advanced 

 from Seville with a force of about 18,000, and was 

 joined in Estremadura by 5000 troops, under General 

 Latonr Maubourg. The united armies of Castanoa 

 and Sir W. Beresford, who had judged it prudent to 

 raise the siege of Badajos, took up a position in two 

 lines nearly p iraHel to the rivulet of Albuera. Gene- 

 ral Blake, hearing of the advance of Soult, joined the 

 allied army on the morning of the 16th; and a few 

 hours afterwards the French army began their march. 



At nine o'clock in the morning, the enemy attack- Battle of 

 ed the Spanish troops, who, after a gallant resistance, Albuera 

 were driven from the heights on which they had been March 

 formed. In the mean time, the division of the Hon. ' 

 Major -General W. Stewart, which had been brought 

 up to support them, and that of Major- General Hamil- 

 ton, which came to the left of the Spanish line, form- 

 ed in contiguous close columns of battalions, in order 

 to be moveable in any direction. Brigadier-General 

 Otway,at the head of the Portuguese cavalry, remain- 

 ed at some distance on the left of this, to check any 

 attempt of the enemy below the village. 



As the heights from which the Spanish troops had 

 been driven, raked and commanded the whole posi- 

 tion of the allied army, the division of General Stew- 

 art made a noble effort to retake them from the ene- 

 my. Lieutenant Colonel Colborne, at the head of 

 the right brigade of General Stewart's division, first 

 came into action, but finding that the column of the 

 enemy could not be shaken by fire, he proceeded to 

 attack it with the bayonet. While the troops were 

 in the very act of charging the enemy, a body of ca- 

 valry called the Polish lancers," who had been con- 

 cealed by the thickness of the atmosphere and the 

 nature of the ground, and who were mistaken for 

 Spaniards when they were discovered, suddenly attack- 

 ed and turned the brigade, which was unfortunately 

 broken, and sustained immense loss. The 31st re- 

 giment, under Major L'Estrange, having alone es- 

 caped this charge, kept its ground till the arrival 

 6 



