A British Rifle Man. Simmons George
an hour against fearful odds, when Lieutenant-Colonel Beckwith brought up the three reserve companies from the village, who soon decided the affair. The enemy was driven in the greatest confusion back over frightful precipices, leaving two officers killed and a number of men wounded.
About 9 o'clock in the evening, Captain O'Hare had been taken unwell, and as there was no idea of an attack, he went home to bed. Lieutenant Cowan was sent for him when the firing commenced. They arrived after poor Mercer was killed, so the command of the piquet devolved upon me for a quarter of an hour. Thus I had the honour to command for some time after poor Mercer was killed and until O'Hare returned. I merely mention this circumstance as it was the first time I had been in a fight, but the gallantry displayed by the varmint fellows that were with me left no doubt on my mind that we should have resisted all these attempts to dislodge us until the reserves came up. A young Frenchman that was taken, fired into Colonel Beckwith's face. A Rifle Man was just going to blow his brains out, when the Colonel stopped him, saying, "Let him alone; I daresay the boy has a mother. Knock the thing out of his hand, that he may do no more mischief with it, and give him a kick on the bottom and send him to the rear." The next morning the boy was given a hearty breakfast at the Colonel's house. On being questioned about firing so wantonly, he said he was in such agitation that he was not aware his finger was upon the trigger of his gun. The ball went through the Colonel's cap peak, which, being turned up, made it take a slanting direction; it passed through and grazed the top of his head. Six hundred volunteers were chosen by the French general to attempt the annihilation of our party, and fifteen hundred more were formed to support the attack in case of success. A number of men kept up a fire from the enemy's side of the river during the time the soldiers were passing the ravine.
A body of Spaniards under a captain was stationed on our right. We had a corporal and file with them, merely to give us intelligence if necessary. When the firing commenced the Spaniards became very uneasy; the officer wished our corporal to leave his post; he said he was determined to wait until the enemy overpowered him, so the noble Castilian and his forces started off. Two French officers, a Light Infantry captain and a subaltern, and seventeen men lay stretched upon the rough ground. We afterwards heard from a deserter that the colonel who led the attack was shot through the mouth and his jaw broken. He was making a great noise before, but this circumstance made him so quiet that a child might have played with him. Several other officers were wounded and a number of men who were carried off during the affray, Lieutenant Mercer killed, seventeen of our men killed and wounded. Fairfoot was of the party taken; Betts, the sergeant, wounded in the jaw; O'Gallagher wounded and died; William David, his skull blown off and his dura mater exposed. A French sergeant was wounded through the knee, and afterwards I assisted Surgeon Burke to remove his leg. This being the first affair of the outposts, and it having resulted in the total discomfiture of the enemy in his midnight attack, the following Complimentary Order was issued on the occasion:—
Division Orders
Brigadier-General Craufurd has it in command from the Commander-in-Chief to assure Lieutenant-Colonel Beckwith and the officers of the 95th Regiment who were engaged at Barba del Puerco that their conduct in this affair has augmented the confidence he has in the troops when opposed to the enemy in any situation. Brigadier-General Craufurd feels peculiar pleasure in noticing the first affair in which any part of the Light Brigade were engaged during the present campaign. That British troops should defeat a superior number of the enemy is nothing new, but the action reflects honour on Lieutenant-Colonel Beckwith and the Regiment, inasmuch that it was of a sort that Rifle Men of other Armies would shun. In other Armies the Rifle is considered ill calculated for close action with an enemy armed with Musket and Bayonet, but the 95th Regiment has proved that the Rifle in the hands of a British soldier is a fully efficient weapon to enable him to defeat the French in the closest fight in whatever manner they may be armed.
(Signed) T. Graham, D.A.G.
This night gave me a good opinion of myself. I fought alone for some time with fearful odds, my friend dead at my feet. I had been often joked and told, "Would you not like to be at home again?" After this night I was considered a soldier fit to face the devil in any shape.
21st
Another attack being expected from the enemy, two more companies of Rifle Men marched in, also two of the 52nd and one of the 43rd Light Infantry.
23rd
This post being frequently cut off in rainy weather by a river which ran in our rear becoming so swollen that it was impossible to ford it for days together, our General withdrew us, and sent a piquet of the 1st German Hussars as a look-out post; we moved into Villar de Ciérvos. A few days before we left the post of Barba del Puerco a deserter wanted to come to us, but the river ran so furiously that he durst not cross it. Some Spaniards who were hiding from the French observed him, and did not know his wishes, but seeing this Frenchman without arms and unsupported, deliberately stoned him to death, several of us looking on without the power of doing the unfortunate man any service.
1810 April 6th
A battalion of French Infantry and a squadron of Dragoons marched from San Felices and proceeded to the ford of Valdespina. The infantry formed up whilst the cavalry foraged and plundered the small villages, after which the whole returned to San Felices, followed by a party of 1st German Hussars.
8th
Our battalion marched from Villar de Ciérvos to Val de la Mula, Val de la Cuellar, and Malpartida. The former villages stand on the Turon below the hill of Fort Concepçion; San Pedro and Valermosa were occupied by the 43rd Regiment.
11th
This day two of our companies were divided and the Battalion formed into eight companies instead of ten. The staff of the two companies were ordered to proceed to the depôt in England. Captain Ross's troop of Horse Artillery was also attached to the Light Brigade.
21st
General Craufurd reviewed the Brigade on the heights of Fort Concepçion, after which the following change of quarters took place: 43rd relieved the 52nd at the outposts, 95th occupied the villages vacated by the 43rd, 52nd marched into the cantonments vacated by the 95th. The enemy are making their appearance in the vicinity of Ciudad Rodrigo in considerable force; it is a strongly fortified Spanish town upon the Agueda.
29th
The enemy have invested the town in very large force. Four companies of Rifle Men marched to Espeja and four into Gallegos; these villages are about a league apart and three from Ciudad Rodrigo. The enemy sent a reconnoitring party, which, after making its observations, returned by the ford below.
30th
Two companies of Rifle Men were now posted as piquets above, about two miles in front, upon the river Azava, at the bridge of Marialba and the forts. A vedette of the German Hussars was posted on the other side of the river in our front upon a commanding height in the village of Carpio; from his station he could overlook all between him and Ciudad Rodrigo. Two companies of Rifle Men left Gallegos for Espeja, to admit the 1st and 3rd Caçadores, who are to be attached to us, into the village. The Division is now to be called Light in future. These Portuguese soldiers are dressed in brown and are Light Infantry.
Letter No. VI
Villar de Ciérvos, Spain,
30th April 1810.
Dear Father—You will wonder, I suppose, at my sending one letter after another in this way, as I wrote you so recently from Reygada in Portugal.
I had the other day a long letter from my friend Maud. I answered it the following day. He is in high health. I gave him all my news, ending the letter, as usual, with advice. He has been stationed for some time at Portalegre in Portugal, an exceeding good town, while I have been traversing the country for months, not staying more than a day or two in a place, and sleeping in tents or churches. For the last two months back we have been stationed so near the enemy we