In the two battles of the 30th, the Allies lost in killed and wounded 1900 men, of whom nearly 1200 were Portuguese. On the French side the loss was enormous; two divisions were completely disorganised. Foy's Division was entirely separated from the main body; at the lowest computation, 2000 men had been killed and wounded, and 3000 prisoners were taken. The Gordon Highlanders killed in action were:-Sergeant Jas. Allan, Corporal Robert Anderson, Privates John Brookes, William Dougald, Hugh Johnstone, David M'Intosh, Symon MacKenzie, Donald Maclean, Murdoch Ross, John Wright, Captain G. W. Holmes, and twenty-six rank and file were wounded.* An officer mentions that an Order was issued early in the morning of the 30th for all men who could not keep up with their battalion to be sent to the baggage. He selected three from his company; two went with apparent goodwill, but William Dougald respectfully told him he would rather die than leave his comrades. He had been hit three times by spent bullets on the 25th, and though not much minded at the time, the wounds had become so inflamed by subsequent exertion that on the 30th he could scarcely drag his right leg after him. "I shall never forget the exertions he made to keep up with his companions, and the admirable manner in which he performed his duty in action till stretched a lifeless corpse on the heights of La Zarza." John Brookes, one of the two who quitted the company agreeable to order, had also been struck by a musket ball on the 25th; it had been turned aside by his leather-stock, but his throat had become so inflamed that by the 30th he could hardly speak intelligibly. The brave fellow having obeyed orders with apparent alacrity, his officer was astonished, on going into action, to see him only a few paces in rear on his way to rejoin his company, but had no time to take notice of his disobedience at the moment; and Brookes conducted him * Cannon's Record says nine rank and file were killed, and Captain G. W. Holmes and twenty-six rank and file wounded. The morning state, 31st July, gives one captain, twenty-six rank and file to rear wounded. The above ten names of killed are taken from the Regimental Return. self with his usual spirit and gallantry, till another bullet struck him on the same place and killed him on the spot. The third man, Hugh Johnstone (the same who saved his master's property at the expense of his own at Maya), had rejoined the company along with Brookes, and soon after was very severely wounded. He was carried to the rear, but subsequent movements placed him in the enemy's hands, where he remained without medical aid till the French retreated next day, when his master sent a party to carry him to La Zarza. They attended to him, but he was exhausted from loss of blood, and expired in his comrades' arms, with a smile on his countenance. "Such was the premature fate of as good a soldier and faithful servant as ever graced the ranks of the British army." No doubt examples of chivalrous bravery occurred in the other companies similar to those recorded by this officer in his Memoir. When the 92nd retired from the ridge where they had been so long engaged, a Portuguese battalion was ordered to cover the retreat, but their conduct proved an exception to the generally conspicuous gallantry of their countrymen in this campaign. In the valley, between the ridge and the rocks to which the 92nd retired, there were some houses which should have been held by the Portuguese, but of which they allowed the French to get possession, taking the shortest road to safety. Enraged to see this post lost by the bad behaviour of his men, their colonel rode up to the standard-bearer, snatched the flag from his hands, and galloped to within one hundred yards of the houses, where he remained for a considerable time with the enemy's shot flying about his ears, while he waved the colour round his head to induce his men to follow. The gallant young colonel (he was only captain in the British army) was a Highlander, he had both an uncle and a brother in the 92nd, and it was with the greatest difficulty their officers could prevent the Highlanders from breaking away to render their countryman the aid which his Portuguese refused; but the orders were peremptory, and soon they had the pleasure of congratulating the young commander on his hairbreadth * Brookes belonged to Old Deer, Aberdeenshire. †The Portuguese troops were always led by British officers. escape from the danger in which his gallantry had placed him, for his cloak and body-clothes were pierced in several places by musket balls. His name was John MacDonald of Dalchoshnie, who many years afterwards commanded the Gordon Highlanders. On the evening of the 29th, the officers of the First Brigade were enjoying that restful day in the shade of a wide-spreading tree, when an officer of the 50th, fresh from Lisbon, passed in all the smartness of new equipment and clean clothes. When he dismounted to report his arrival to the commanding officer, Colonel Fitzgerald of the 60th, then commanding the Light Companies of the Second Division, offered to bet twenty dollars" that the officer just arrived is either killed or a prisoner within twenty-four hours." The wager was taken and won, for the officer, horse and all, was in the hands of the French before the period named; but Fitzgerald was never paid, for a few hours later he was himself led captive to France.* Hill's force was now 15,000 men, and Wellington's dispositions were such that the French marshal was placed between two fires, his only line of retreat being by the Pass of Donna Maria. Towards it he began his march soon after midnight, giving the rear-guard to d'Erlon, whose divisions, having been hitherto successful, were in good order. They occupied their ground opposite Hill's Corps till about eight o'clock on the morning of the 31st, thus giving time for the rest of Soult's army to be well on their way. Hill immediately followed, the pursuit being led by the First Brigade, Second Division. They came up with the rear-guard about noon, when serious skirmishing took place in the woods. The main body of d'Erlon's troops had by this time gained the pass, the road to which leads up a steep rocky hill covered with trees and brushwood. On getting through the wood where they were first engaged, our troops found themselves within three hundred yards of the enemy crowded together on the road. Now was the time for artillery. One field-piece and one howitzer were coming up, but the officer was at a loss for a road through the difficult ground, when Mr Firth, the chaplain, who was as good a soldier as a * 66 preacher, and had been up with the leading troops, acted as guide to ground from which the guns could open on the enemy with effect. The men were amused at seeing the minister in this new character; "Gude guide us," cried one of them, "see to the minister leading the artillery!" "I'm sure he's nae business runnin' himsel' into danger," said another. "Haud yer tongue, ye gowk," answered a third. "He's the very man that should be there; he's prepared." * The first shell knocked down a number of men, and almost every shot took fatal effect, throwing the enemy's rear columns into confusion, so that they scattered through the woods on each side. The infantry was now called on; the 50th ascended the hill to the left of the road; the 71st, in extended order, skirmished with the French along the hillside between the right of the 50th and the road; while the 92nd took the high road, and attacked the main body of the enemy in their front; the Second and Fourth Brigades, Second Division, were in support, and the Seventh Division, under the Earl of Dalhousie, moved by a parallel road to attack the enemy's left flank. Their skirmishers being driven in, the main body, several thousand strong, faced about and made good battle, opening on our troops with a heavy fire of musketry. The 92nd, under Major MacPherson, charged in defiance of shot and numbers, but were repulsed with loss. A captain was taken prisoner in the mêlée and disarmed, but he knocked down the French officer who took him with his fist, ran off, and succeeded in rejoining his company, being, however, shot through the arm as he did so. Again the 92nd charged, with a like result. A third time they led the charge, this time joined by the Second Brigade, and the enemy was at last driven over the Pass. The loss of the Allies was under 400 men, that of the French is unknown, and was probably less. Lieut.-General Sir Rowland Hill, under whose eye the battalion was engaged, bestowed most flattering encomiums on its gallantry, "and the enemy's defeat was particularly ascribed to the persevering bravery individually displayed in the ranks of the 92nd." † An officer relates, "At the close of this day's engagement, I could only muster thirteen privates out of eighty-two N.-C. officers and privates which I carried into action six days before;" and he was himself wounded. Major MacPherson being severely wounded (his horse was killed under him), the command of the battalion devolved upon Captain Seton (who, though it is not mentioned in Cannon's Record, is entered in the Regimental Return as slightly wounded "). The other officers wounded were Captains Jas. Lee and Dougald Campbell; Lieutenant Jas. Hope and Ensign Thomas Mitchell. Cannon's Record gives ten rank and file killed and 69 wounded, but I can only find the names of the following eight N.-C. officers and men killed, viz. Sergeant Charles MacGregor,* Privates Angus Campbell, Alexr. Gow, Ewen Gordon, John Murray (1st), Roderick Ross, Jas. Shaw, Alexr. Watt. The morning state of August 1st gives 3 sergeants, 76 rank and file, "sent to the rear wounded." Besides the three officers already mentioned, the following N.-C. officers and privates, wounded on the 25th, 30th, and 31st, died of their wounds between July 27th and August 13th inclusive, viz. :-Sergeant John Cumming; Corporals Willm. Leighton and Willm. Craig; Privates Alexr. Clarke, Graham Cattanach, Willm. Bain, Willm. Davidson, Thos. Gowrie, Jonathan M'Donald, John MacPherson, and Jas. Strachan. Though a large proportion of the wounded afterwards rejoined, the battalion did not recover during the war from the appalling losses of seasoned soldiers it sustained from the 25th to the 31st July 1813. D'Erlon was not routed, but retreated slowly and in good order, and pursuit was prevented by a thick fog. That evening a picket of the Light Company was taken rather cleverly. A body of troops approached, and when challenged, answered "Espagniola." The Highlanders, completely deceived, were surrounded before they discovered their mistake, disarmed, and carried off, each guarded by two men with fixed bayonets. They had to ford a river, just above a place where it rushed down, dark and deep, between high rocks wooded on either hand; as they waded across some of the men agreed to chance * The sergeant who lost his wife and children in the retreat to Corunna "Thus," says Sergeant Robertson, " putting an end to the whole family." |