420 
SPAIN. 
the Duke of Dalmatia, that they might be suffered to em¬ 
bark unmolested; but this advice Sir John, without hesita¬ 
tion, rejected. 
On the 12th of January, the French were seen moving in 
considerable force on the opposite side of the river Mero. 
They took up a position near the village of Peril lo, on the 
left flank of the British, and occupied the houses along the 
river. In the mean time, Sir John was incessantly occupied 
in preparing for the defence of his post, and in making 
every arrangement for the embarkation of the troops. 
On the 13th, Sir David Baird marched out of Corunna 
with his division, and took post on a rising ground, where 
he determined to remain all night. A division under Gene¬ 
ral Hope was sent to occupy a hill on the left, which com¬ 
manded the road to Betanzos, forming a semicircle with Sir 
David Baird’s division on the right. General Frazer’s divi¬ 
sion was drawn up near the road to Vigo, about half a mile 
from Corunna, and communicated with that under Sir 
David Baird, by means of the rifle corps attached to the 
latter, which formed a chain across the valley. The reserve 
under Major-general Paget occupied a village on the Betan¬ 
zos road, about half a mile from the rear of General Hope. 
The higher grounds on the rear and flanks of the British 
were possessed by the French, a situation which gave the 
latter a considerable advantage. 
In the evening the transports from Vigo hove in sight; but 
the enemy was now so near, and had, during this day, shown 
so much disposition to molest the British, that a general 
action was become inevitable. On the 15th, the enemy had 
advanced to a height where, the day before, a magazine, 
containing nearly 4000 barrels of gunpowder, had been 
blown up, and which was immediately opposite to the 
position of the British. On this day some skirmishes took 
place. 
On the 16th, every thing was prepared for a general ac¬ 
tion. Most of the artillery had been embarked, as it was 
found that, from the nature of the ground, much artillery 
could not be employed with advantage. During the 13th 
and 14th, the sick, the dismounted cavalry and horses, were 
also nearly all embarked. On the morning of the 16th, the 
French on the hills were apparently quiet, and it was hoped 
that the embarkation might be effected in the course of that 
night; but about noon the enemy, who had in the morning 
received reinforcements, and had placed some guns in front 
of the right and left of his line, was observed to be getting 
under arms, to be moving troops towards his left flank, and 
forming various columns of attack at that extremity of the 
strong and commanding position which he had taken on the 
15th, in front of the British line. This indication of his 
intention was immediately succeeded by a rapid and deter¬ 
mined attack on the division under Sir David Baird, which 
formed the right, wing, and was the weakest part of the line. 
The first effort of the enemy was met by Sir John Moore and 
Sir David Baird at the head of the 42d regiment, and the 
brigade under Lord William Bentinek. The village on the 
right became an object of obstinate contest. While leading 
on his division to support this position. Sir David had his 
arm shattered with a grape shot. 
Not long after, while Sir John Moore was riding from post 
to post, everywhere encouraging his troops, and pointing out 
the^most advantageous opportunities for attack or defence, 
his conspicuous situation had exposed him to the fire of the 
enemy. A cannon-ball struck his left shoulder, and beat 
him to the ground. He raised himself, and sat up with an 
unaltered countenance, looking intently at the Highlanders, 
who were warmly engaged. Captain Hardinge threw him¬ 
self from his horse, and took him by the hand ; then ob¬ 
serving his anxiety, he told him the 42d were advancing, 
upon which his countenance immediately brightened. His 
friend Colonel Graham now dismounted to'assist him : and, 
from the composure of his features, entertained hopes that he 
was not even wounded : but observing the horrid laceration 
and effusion of blood, he rode off for surgeons. The general 
was carried from the field on a blanket, by a serjeant of the 
42d, and some soldiers. On the way, he ordered Captain 
Hardinge to report his wound to general Hope, who assumed 
the command. Many of the soldiers knew that their two 
chiefs were carried off: yet they continued to fight with un¬ 
diminished courage ; and, by the most determined bravery, 
not only repelled every attempt of the enemy to gain ground, 
but actually forced him to retire, though he had brought up 
fresh troops in support of those originally engaged. 
The 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 intention. The 
major-general having pushed forward the 95th (rifle corps) 
and 1st battalion 52d regiment, drove the enemy before him; 
and, in his rapid and judicious advance, threatened the left 
of the enemy’s position. This circumstance, with the posi¬ 
tion of Lieutenant-general Fraser’s division (calculated to 
give still farther security to the right of the line) induced the 
enemy to relax his efforts in that quarter. They were, how¬ 
ever, more forcibly directed towards the centre, where they 
were again successfully resisted by the brigade under major- 
general Manningham, forming the left of Sir David Baird's 
division, and a part of that under Major-general Leith, 
forming the right of the division under General Hope. Upon 
the left the enemy at first contented himself with an attack 
upon our picquets, which, however, in general, maintained 
their ground. Finding, however, his efforts unavailing on 
the right and centre, he seemed determined to render the 
attack on the left more serious, and had succeeded in obtain¬ 
ing 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 point, however, he was soon ex¬ 
pelled with considerable loss, by a gallant attack of some 
companies of the 2d battalion of the 14th regiment, under 
Lieutenant-colonel Nicholls. Before five in the evening, the 
British had not only successfully repelled every attack made 
upon the position, but had gained ground in almost all 
points, and occupied a more forward line than at the com¬ 
mencement of the action, whilst the enemy confined his 
operations to a cannonade, and the fire of his light troops, 
with a view to draw off his other corps. At six the firing 
ceased. The different brigades were reassembled on the 
ground which they occupied in the morning, and the 
picquets and advanced posts resumed their original stations. 
Notwithstanding the decided and marked superiority 
which at this moment the gallantry of the troops had given 
them over an enemy, who, from his numbers and the com¬ 
manding advantages of his position, no doubt expected an 
easy victory, General Hope did not, on reviewing all cir¬ 
cumstances, conceive that he should be warranted in depart¬ 
ing from what he knew was the previous and fixed determi¬ 
nation of the late commander of the forces, to withdraw the 
army on the evening of the 16th, for the purpose of em¬ 
barkation, the previous arrangements for which had already 
been made. 
In this action the British troops had come off with glory ; 
and there can be no doubt, from the repulse of the French 
forces, and their subsequent inactivity, that the honour of 
the victory belonged to the British, The victory had in¬ 
deed cost them de ir. They had lost one of their best gene¬ 
rals; and probably nearly 1000 men had been killed or 
wounded during the action. It had been achieved at the 
termination of a long and harassing service. The superior 
numbers, and advantageous position of the enemy, not less 
than the actual situation of the British army, did not admit 
of any advantage being reaped from success. The lustre of 
the British arms had, however, been maintained under the 
most disadvantageous circumstances. The army which had 
entered Spain amidst the fairest prospects, had no sooner 
completed its junction, than, owing to the multiplied dis¬ 
asters that dispersed the native armies around it, it was left 
to its own resources. The advance of the British troops from 
the 
