regardless of the number and position of the enemy, determined on
an immediate attack. Major Duncan soon opened a powerful battery
of ten guns in the centre. The right wing proceeded to the attack
of General Rufin’s division on the hill, while that under General
Laval, notwithstanding the havoc made by Major Duncan’s battery,
continued to advance in very imposing masses, opening his fire of
musketry, and was only checked by that of the left wing.
The left wing now advanced firing; and a most determined charge
by the three companies of Guards and the second battalion of the
EIGHTY-SEVENTH regiment, supported by the remainder of the wing,
soon decided the defeat of General Laval’s division. In this
charge the Eagle of the eighth French regiment of light infantry
(which suffered immensely) and a howitzer were captured, and
remained in possession of Major Gough, now Lieut.-General Viscount
Gough, G.C.B., and colonel of the EIGHTY-SEVENTH regiment.[13]
These attacks were zealously supported by Colonel Belson with the
Twenty-eighth, and Lieut.-Colonel Prevost with a portion of the
Sixty-seventh regiment.
[Illustration: _Lieu^t Pym 87^{th} Reg^t del._
_Madeley lith 3 Wellington S^t. Strand_
_The French Imperial Eagle_
_Of the 8^{th} Regiment_
_Taken by His MAJESTY’S 2^{nd} Battalion 87^{th} (or Prince of
Wales Irish) Regiment under the command of Major Hugh Gough._
For Cannon’s Military Records.]
A reserve formed beyond the narrow valley, across which the enemy
was closely pursued, next shared the same fate, and was routed by
the same means.
The right wing meanwhile was not less successful, and, after a
sanguinary contest, General Rufin’s division was driven from the
heights in confusion, leaving two pieces of cannon. In less than
an hour and a half from the commencement of the action, the French
were in full retreat. The retiring division met, halted, and
seemed inclined to form; but a new and more advanced position of
the British artillery quickly dispersed the enemy. The exhausted
state of the troops rendered pursuit impossible, and a position was
occupied on the eastern side of the hill. When the conflict had
ceased, Lieut.-General Graham remained on the field of battle; but
the Spanish general, La Pena, who had looked on while this terrible
battle was fought, did not seize the favourable opportunity which
the valour of the British troops had put into his hands, of
striking a severe blow at the remains of the French army retreating
in disorder. The inactivity of the Spaniards continuing, the
British proceeded to Cadiz on the following day.
In this battle the EIGHTY-SEVENTH had one officer and forty-four
men killed; four officers and one hundred and twenty-four men
wounded: the strength of the battalion in the field was seven
hundred and twenty-two.
_Killed._
_Ensign_—Edward E. Kough.
_Wounded._
_Major_—Archibald Maclaine.
_Captain_—Anthony William Somersall.
_Lieutenant_—James Gubbins Fennell.
” James Campbell Barton.
Lieut.-General Graham stated, in his public despatch, “No
expressions of mine could do justice to the conduct of the troops
throughout. Nothing less than the almost unparalleled exertions of
every officer, the invincible bravery of every soldier, and the
most determined devotion to the honor of His Majesty’s arms, in
all, could have achieved this brilliant success, against such a
formidable enemy so posted.”
Among the prisoners were the General of Division Rufin, the General
of Brigade Rousseau; the Chief of the Staff, General Bellegarde; an
Aide-de-camp of Marshal Victor; the Colonel of the Eighth regiment,
and several other officers. The prisoners amounted to two general
officers, one field officer, nine captains, eight subalterns, and
four hundred and twenty rank and file. The enemy lost about three
thousand men in killed, wounded, and prisoners, while that of the
British amounted to one thousand two hundred and forty-three killed
and wounded. Six pieces of cannon were also captured.
Lieut.-General Graham, on this glorious occasion, wrote a short but
comprehensive note from the field of battle, to General Sir John
Doyle, the colonel of the EIGHTY-SEVENTH regiment, in these words,
congratulating him on the steadiness and gallantry displayed by the
second battalion in an action which redounded so much to the fame
of the British arms.
“_Barrosa, 5th March, 1811._
“MY DEAR DOYLE,
“Your regiment has covered itself with glory. Recommend it and its
commander (Gough) to their illustrious patron, the Prince Regent:
too much cannot be done for it.
“Ever yours,
(Signed) “T. GRAHAM.”
Major Hugh Gough was promoted to the brevet rank of Lieut.-Colonel,
in consequence of Lieut.-General Graham’s recommendation, for his
gallantry at _Barrosa_, and also received a medal for that battle.
On the 18th of April 1811, His Royal Highness the Prince Regent was
pleased to approve of the EIGHTY-SEVENTH being in future styled
“_The_ EIGHTY-SEVENTH, _or Prince of Wales’s Own Irish Regiment_,”
and of its bearing, as a badge of honor, on the regimental
colour and appointments an _Eagle_ with a _Wreath of Laurel_,
above the _Harp_, in addition to the arms of His Royal Highness,
in commemoration of the distinguished gallantry of the second
battalion on various occasions, and particularly at the battle of
_Barrosa_ on the 5th of March 1811.
Both Houses of Parliament unanimously voted their thanks to
Lieut.-General Graham, and the officers and men under his command,
for this victory, and their valour and ability were highly
applauded by the nation.
The importance of the victory was fully appreciated by
Lieut.-General Viscount Wellington, K.B., who in a letter to
Lieut.-General Graham, of the 25th of March, thus expressed
himself:—
“I beg to congratulate you and the brave troops under your command,
on the signal victory which you gained on the 5th instant. I have
no doubt whatever, that their success would have had the effect
of raising the siege of Cadiz, if the Spanish corps had made
any effort to assist them; and I am equally certain, from your
account of the ground, that if you had not decided with the utmost
promptitude to attack the enemy, and if your attack had not been a
most vigorous one, the whole allied army would have been lost.
“You have to regret that such a victory should not have been
followed by all the consequences which might reasonably be expected
from it; but you may console yourself with the reflection that you
did your utmost, and, at all events, saved the allied army; and
that the failure in the extent of benefit to be derived from your
exertions is to be attributed to those who would have derived most
advantage from them.
“I concur in the propriety of your withdrawing to the Isla on the
6th, as much as I admire the promptitude and determination of your
attack of the 5th; and I most sincerely congratulate you and the
brave troops under your command, on your success.”
And in a letter of the same date to Marshal Sir William Carr
Beresford, K.B., Viscount Wellington stated:—
“General Graham has returned to the Isla, after having fought
the hardest action that has been fought yet. The Spaniards left
him very much to his own exertions. The Spanish General is to be
brought to a court-martial.”
In a letter of the 27th of March to the Earl of Liverpool,
Secretary of State, Lieut.-General Viscount Wellington expressed
similar sentiments to the foregoing, and added:—
“I am convinced that His Royal Highness the Prince Regent will duly
appreciate the promptitude with which Lieut.-General Graham decided
to attack the enemy in the important position of which they had
obtained possession; the vigour with which he carried that decision
into execution, and the gallantry displayed by all the officers and
troops upon that glorious occasion.”
The EIGHTY-SEVENTH having returned to Cadiz, after the battle
of Barrosa, remained there until the 10th of October, when it
embarked with a brigade under the command of Colonel Skerrett, of
the Forty-seventh regiment, and landed at _Tarifa_ on the 15th of
that month. A strong division of the French army, amounting to
ten thousand men, under the immediate orders of General Laval,
invested the town of _Tarifa_ on the 20th of December 1811. The
garrison consisted of a thousand British, and about seven hundred
Spanish troops, and was commanded by Colonel Skerrett. In the night
of the 29th the enemy fired salvos of grape on the breach, and on
the 30th the breaching fire was renewed. A heavy rain filled the
bed of the river during the night, and the torrent bringing down
planks, fascines, gabions and dead bodies from the French camp,
broke the palisades, and bent the portcullis backward. The surge
of the waters also injured the defences behind the breach. After a
heavy cannonading and bombardment, with considerable skirmishing,
a breach in the walls was effected, and preparations were made for
storming on the 31st of December.
The post of the EIGHTY-SEVENTH was at the breach; and about eight
o’clock in the morning of the 31st, the French troops, amounting
to two thousand chosen men, composed of all the grenadiers and
voltigeurs of the army, advanced thereto, where they were received
by the EIGHTY-SEVENTH with three cheers, the battalion at the
same time pouring in a most tremendous and well directed fire,
which, for a moment, checked the enemy, who, as if to escape the
fire, ran with desperation towards the breach, which they found
impracticable; they then hurried along the wall, to endeavour
to force the portcullis, but without effect, on which they fled
precipitately to their own lines.
During the attack, the drums and fifes of the regiment played
the favourite Irish airs of _Patrick’s Day_ and _Garryowen_, and
nothing but the steadiness and discipline of the corps could have
prevented them from pursuing the enemy.
The following eloquent description of this assault is given by
Lieut.-General Sir William Napier, K.C.B., in his History of the
Peninsular War.
“The waters subsided in the night as quickly as they had risen, but
at daylight a living stream of French grenadiers glided swiftly
down the bed of the river, and as if assured of victory, arrived,
without shout or tumult, within a few yards of the walls, when,
instead of quitting the hollow, to reach the breach, they, like the
torrent of the night, continued their rapid course, and dashed
against the portcullis. The British soldiers who had hitherto been
silent and observant, as if at a spectacle which they were expected
to applaud, now arose, and with a crashing volley smote the head of
the French column. The leading officer, covered with wounds, fell
against the portcullis, and gave up his sword through the bars to
Colonel Gough. The French drummer, a gallant boy, who was beating
the charge, dropped lifeless by his officer’s side, and the dead
and wounded filled the hollow. The remainder of the assailants then
breaking out to the right and left, spread along the slopes of
ground under the ramparts, and opened a quick irregular musketry.
At the same time, a number of men coming out of the trenches,
leaped into pits digged in front, and shot fast at the garrison,
but no escalade or diversion at the other points was made, and the
storming column was dreadfully shattered; for the ramparts streamed
forth fire, and from the north-eastern tower a field-piece, held in
reserve expressly for the occasion, sent, at pistol-shot distance,
a tempest of grape whistling through the French masses, which were
swept away in such a dreadful manner, that they could no longer
endure the destruction, but plunging once more into the hollow
returned to their camp, while a shout of victory, mingled with the
sound of musical instruments, passed round the wall of the town.”
This gallant affair cost the regiment but little; Lieutenants M.
Carroll and Waller being the only officers wounded, and a few of
the men.
Volunteer William Ireland was promoted to an ensigncy for his own
good conduct and that of the regiment at the siege of TARIFA; and
Serjeant Irwin very much distinguished himself.
The following is the return of killed and wounded in the action at
_Tarifa_ on the 31st of December:—
_Royal Engineers._—Lieutenant Joseph Longley, killed.
_Forty-seventh Regiment, Second Battalion._—Lieutenant Richard Hall
and one man killed; Lieutenant George Hill and two rank and file
wounded.
_Eighty-seventh Regiment, Second Battalion._—Five rank and file
killed; Lieutenant Morgan Carroll, Ensign Waller, and twenty-one
rank and file wounded.
_Ninety-fifth Regiment, Second Battalion (Rifles.)_—One man killed,
and one wounded.
_Total._—Two officers, and seven rank and file killed: three
officers, and twenty-four rank and file wounded.
Colonel Skerrett, in the evening, issued the following orders:—
“Colonel Skerrett most sincerely congratulates the British garrison
on the glorious result of the affair of to-day. Two thousand of
the enemy’s best troops attacked the breach, and were totally
defeated with immense loss. On our side all behaved nobly; but the
conduct of _Lieut.-Colonel Gough_, and the EIGHTY-SEVENTH regiment,
surpasses praise.”
The situation of the enemy’s wounded, with which the ground was
covered between his battery and the British fire, where they must
have inevitably perished, induced Colonel Skerrett, from motives
of compassion, to hoist a flag of truce to carry them off. Some
were brought into the place over the breach; but from the extreme
difficulty attending this, the French were allowed to carry the
remainder away. General Laval expressed his acknowledgment of the
conduct of the British and Spanish nations on this occasion in the
most feeling and grateful terms. The enemy’s loss was very severe,
and ten officers were amongst the prisoners.[14]
[Sidenote: 1812.]
From the movements of the enemy on the 4th of January 1812, it was
supposed that another assault was intended, and the garrison waited
in eager expectation to display another proof of British valour. On
the following morning, at daylight, the columns of the enemy were
already at a distance, having taken advantage of a dark and stormy
night to make a precipitate retreat, leaving in the possession of
the British all his artillery, ammunition, and stores. Marshal
Victor was present in the French camp to give orders for the
retreat. Major Richard Broad, with a part of the Forty-seventh
regiment, was immediately ordered to follow the enemy, and he took
possession of the artillery, waggons, and a quantity of stores in
sufficient time to save them from the flames, the French having
set fire to them. Some prisoners were made on this occasion. In an
intercepted despatch from Marshal Soult, three months after the
siege, it was stated,—“The taking of Tarifa will be more hurtful
to the English and to the defenders of Cadiz, than the taking of
Alicant or even Badajoz, where I cannot go without first securing
my left and taking Tarifa.”[15]
The royal authority was afterwards granted for the EIGHTY-SEVENTH
to bear the word “TARIFA” on the regimental colour and
appointments, in commemoration of the distinguished gallantry of
the second battalion in successfully defending the breach at that
place against a very superior French force on the 31st of December
1811.
Four companies being left in Tarifa, the six companies returned
to Cadiz, the siege of which place having been raised, the six
companies marched in August 1812 with other corps from Cadiz, and
occupied Seville, where they were shortly joined by the four
companies from Tarifa. The battalion quitted Seville on the 30th
of September, in order to join the army under the Marquis of
Wellington, to which it was transferred on the first of October
1812.
The battalion proceeded to join the fourth division of the
Peninsular army at Aranjuez, near Madrid, on the 25th of October.
On the morning of the 31st, at eight o’clock, the advanced guard
of Marshal Soult, consisting of nine thousand men, attacked the
passage of the bridge and fort of _Puerto Largo_, several times
during the day, but was defeated with considerable loss.
The second battalion of the EIGHTY-SEVENTH regiment on this
occasion behaved with great gallantry, and, continuing its march to
Madrid, reached it that night, but, on the following one, commenced
its retreat to Salamanca, during which the rear-guard, being formed
by the third brigade, of which the EIGHTY-SEVENTH then composed
a part, was, on the 16th of November, attacked several times by
the enemy’s cavalry. In the end of December, the regiment arrived
at Salamanca, having lost during the retreat to Portugal, two
officers, namely, Ensigns De Courcy Ireland and William Ireland,
eight Serjeants, two drummers, and one hundred and eighty-two rank
and file, by disease caused by fatigue and extreme bad weather.
It rained continually for three days and nights, during which the
regiment had no tents to cover them. The men were obliged to sit
down in line each night to receive the enemy.
Serjeants Coppin, M’Mahon, Milligan, O’Hara, and Palmer, were
promoted to be ensigns after the retreat, on account of the good
conduct of the regiment.
A striking instance of intrepidity and presence of mind occurred
on one of those marches in the Peninsula, which so frequently
terminated in a general action. During a short halt, the
EIGHTY-SEVENTH took up its ground upon a hill not far from the
enemy, and the men were sitting down to rest, when a howitzer,
that had been masked, opened upon them; some shells fell short,
but one alighted in the centre of one of the companies. The men
naturally endeavoured to get out of its reach, when James Geraghty,
a private grenadier, called out to the men, “that he would show
them how they played foot-ball at Limerick;” and immediately kicked
the live shell, with its burning fuse, over the edge of the hill:
the moment it touched the ground it exploded without injuring a man
of the regiment. For this gallant act the commanding officer made
the man a handsome present.
[Sidenote: 1813.]
The army took the field in 1813, and arrived in the neighbourhood
of _Vittoria_ on the 18th of June, and on the 21st of that month
the regiment was engaged with the French army until dark, when
the enemy was routed with immense loss; one hundred and fifty-one
pieces of artillery, a stand of colours, with all his baggage,
falling into the hands of the victors.
The EIGHTY-SEVENTH formed part of the third division; the Marquis
of Wellington ordered that an attack should be made on three
separate points; on the right by Lieut.-General Sir Rowland Hill,
with the second division, upon the French left at Puebla; while
on the left, Lieut.-General Sir Thomas Graham, with the first
and fifth divisions, was to make a wide detour to the left, and
crossing the Zadorra at _Vittoria_ to attack their right, and
cut off their retreat by the great road to Bayonne. The centre,
consisting of the fourth and light divisions (under the Marquis
of Wellington himself) on the right, and the third and seventh
(under Lieut.-General the Earl of Dalhousie) on the left, were to
pass the bridges in front, and attack as soon as the movements on
the flanks should be executed. The difficult nature of the country
prevented the communication between the different columns moving
to the attack from their stations on the river Bayas, at as early
an hour as was expected. The fourth and light divisions, however,
passed the Zadorra immediately after Lieut.-General Sir Rowland
Hill had obtained possession of Subijana de Alava; and almost as
soon as these had crossed, the column under the Earl of Dalhousie
arrived at Mendoza. The third division, under Lieut.-General Sir
Thomas Picton, crossed at the bridge higher up, followed by the
seventh division under the Earl of Dalhousie. The seventh division,
and the centre brigade of the third division, then attacked the
French right centre, in front of the villages of Margarita and
Hermandad; and the Marquis of Wellington, seeing the hill in front
of the village of Arinez weakly occupied by the enemy, ordered
the right brigade of the third division, under Lieut.-General Sir
Thomas Picton, in close columns of battalions, at a run diagonally
across the front of both armies, to that central point. The hill
was carried immediately, and the French withdrew, under cover
of a cannonade from fifty pieces of artillery and a crowd of
skirmishers, to the second range of heights on which their reserve
had been posted; they, however, still held the village of Arinez,
on the great road leading to Vittoria. The brigade then advanced to
the attack of the village of Arinez, and the French were finally
driven back in confusion at the point of the bayonet. These four
divisions, forming the centre of the army, were destined to attack
the height on which the right of the enemy’s centre was placed,
while Lieut.-General Sir Rowland Hill should move forward from
Subijana de Alava to attack the left. The enemy, however, having
weakened his line to strengthen his detachment on the hills,
abandoned his position in the valley as soon as he saw the British
position to attack it, and ultimately commenced his retreat in good
order towards Vittoria.
Notwithstanding the difficulty of the ground, the allied troops
continued to advance in admirable order. Other movements took
place, the result of which terminated in a complete victory. King
Joseph, whose carriage and court equipage were seized, had barely
time to escape on horseback. The defeat was the most complete that
the French had sustained in the Peninsula.
The Marquis of Wellington, in his despatch, stated that
“Major-General the Honorable Charles Colville’s brigade of the
third division was seriously attacked in its advance by a very
superior force well formed, which it drove in, supported by General
Inglis’s brigade of the seventh division, commanded by Colonel
Grant, of the Eighty-second. _These officers and the troops under
their command distinguished themselves._”
In this conflict the EIGHTY-SEVENTH, under Lieut.-Colonel Gough,
had the honor of taking the bâton of Marshal Jourdan. The
circumstance was thus alluded to upon the Marquis of Wellington
being appointed a Field Marshal. In a most flattering letter,
the Prince Regent, in the name and behalf of His Majesty, thus
conferred the honor:—“You have sent me among the trophies of your
unrivalled fame the staff of a French Marshal, and I send you in
return that of England.”
The EIGHTY-SEVENTH had one ensign, four serjeants, and eighty-three
rank and file killed; three captains, four lieutenants, two
ensigns, seven serjeants, two drummers, and one hundred and
forty-eight rank and file wounded, making a total of two hundred
and fifty-four. The strength of the battalion in the field was six
hundred and thirty-seven.
_Killed._
_Ensign_—Walter O’Grady.
_Wounded._
_Captain_—Frederick Vandeleur, }
” James O’Brien, } _died of their wounds_.
” James King.
_Lieutenant_—Philip Higginson.
” William Mountgarrett.
” Thomas Dowling.
” Wright Knox.
_Ensign_—John Stafford.
” Hilliard.
The royal authority was subsequently granted for the word
“VITTORIA” to be borne on the regimental colour and appointments of
the EIGHTY-SEVENTH, in commemoration of the gallantry of the second
battalion in this battle.
Volunteer O’Grady, and Serjeant-Major Wallace, were promoted for
their good conduct; and Lieutenant and Adjutant Moore had two
horses shot under him in this battle.