With the recall of Wellesley along with Burrard and Dalrymple, the British army came under the command of Sir John Moore. His instructions envisaged the British force providing auxiliary help to the armies of Spain. Spanish success at Bailén resulted in Napoleon going to the Peninsula to conduct the war, and by the end of 1808 in excess of 200,000 French troops were in Spain to quell the insurrection there. Moore felt that an invasion of Spain was justified in order to help the Spanish, but he soon found himself on the back foot when his army of over 30,000 was faced by superior French forces. Initially he was delayed by lack of resources, the subject of correspondence with Castlereagh.12 Logistics led Moore to direct the army from Portugal to Salamanca in three divisions marching by different routes. Moore’s forces entered Spain from Portugal in early November, with Moore reaching Ciudad Rodrigo on the eleventh of that month. A portion of his forces reached Salamanca two days later. Beresford’s brigade initially formed part of the 3rd Division under Lieutenant General Mackenzie Fraser, who took his troops from Coimbra via Viseu to Salamanca. Beresford’s Brigade was used as a flanking brigade on the march there and by 6 November was stated by Moore to be at Pinhel and Celorico and their environs.13 Two weeks later, Beresford confirmed to his half-brother, the 2nd Marquis of Waterford, that they had reached Salamanca where he was quartered in the Bishop’s house, mentioning that he had a very good cook with him but surprisingly there was a shortage of wine. He observed that Salamanca was somewhat like Oxford with its colleges and churches, though the difference being that the Spanish city had monasteries for men and women. The buildings he found beautiful and the cathedral decidedly so.14 The news from Spain was all bad, with the successive defeats of armies under Blake and Castaños at Espinosa de los Monteros and Tudela, causing Beresford to opine that there was no prospect of his meeting his half-brother before the passing of another winter. Following the French capture of Madrid, Beresford was to observe that the defence had been trifling ‘not from want of inclination of the people but there is little spirit in the upper classes, less energy, and if possible less knowledge, at least such as is suitable for the present times’.15
Moore received additional support with the arrival at Mayorga on 20 December of a further British force under Lieutenant General Sir David Baird from La Coruña. This force of approximately 16,000 men arrived off La Coruña on 13 October.16 However, because of Spanish concerns it was not allowed to disembark initially and only commenced doing so on 26 October, following receipt of approval from the government in Madrid, with the last units only getting ashore on 4 November. Baird’s initial puzzlement as to why he was in northern Spain was intensified when having advanced with his force as far as Astorga he was ordered back to La Coruña, with Moore having decided that he would retire with his own army to Portugal after receiving news of the defeat of the Spanish army under General Castaños at Tudela.17
In a further volte-face, Moore then determined to stay in Spain following news of what appeared to be determined Spanish resistance and to this end he ordered Baird forward again. Moore then learnt on 11 December of the fall of Madrid to the French on the 4th of the month. Captured communications led him to believe he might be able to attack a French army in León in northern Spain under Marshal Soult before Napoleon could come from Madrid to its support. On 20 December Moore and Baird linked up and began an advance on Soult’s position at Carrión. Following this junction of the two British forces, Moore reorganised his army but Beresford’s brigade continued to form part of the 3rd Division under Mackenzie-Fraser. Initially the British enjoyed some success with Henry, Lord Paget, commanding the 10th and 15th Hussars getting the better of General Debelle at Sahagún in a cavalry action on 21 December.18 However, before Moore could come up with Soult he learnt on 23 December that the main French army, with Napoleon in command, was moving north from Madrid at speed in pursuit of his own far smaller force. He therefore abandoned the envisaged attack on Soult and ordered the retreat which was to end at La Coruña.
The story of the difficult mid-winter retreat of the British army from Salamanca to La Coruña is well known, with substantial losses being suffered to both the advancing French and the weather. James Ormsby, a chaplain to the army, described the intense suffering of marching ‘over a stupendous high chain of mountains, which were deeply covered with snow, and as many of the troops had not received either bread or wine for the two preceding days, their sufferings were extreme’.19 Two days later, on 6 January 1809, he referred to men lying down in the snow never to rise again and an awful silence pervaded the ranks, only interrupted by the faint groans and fruitless exclamations of the dying. In a graphic description of what it was like for camp followers he wrote: ‘Here lies an infant upon a lifeless mother’s breast; it fondly labours to imbibe the wonted nourishment.’20
Discipline broke down in a number of regiments and there are many stories involving destruction of Spanish property and the appropriation of goods, particularly alcohol.21 It was not just the Spaniards who suffered. Even British officers were not safe from the depradations of their men. Lieutenant William Henry Sewell, recently arrived from England to serve as ADC to Beresford, had a gold watch, gold toothpick case and a silver essence box stolen from him at Lugo for which Private Charles Rankin of the 22nd Regiment was found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging.22
Lieutenant Colonel George MacGregor had his rum bottle stolen by a corporal to whom he had given it to fill, and his saddle bags stolen by, he suspected, men of another British regiment. He recorded a scene of complete desolation on the retreat from Villafranca to Lugo noting: ‘there was not a hundred yards of the road free from the carcasses of horses and other beasts of burden; which had given up and were shot by their owners.’ He went on to contrast the condition of the British soldiers with their French counterparts: ‘Nor was it all pleasant to observe the French, every one of them, provided with one of the blankets which had been thrown away upon the road in cart loads, together with the arms, the dollars and the shoes! – The enemy had no occasion for them. They were remarkably well clothed.’23 Many British soldiers under the influence of drink lost their lives to the inclement weather or the pursuing French when they were unable or unwilling to march.
Moore decided to split his force, sending some 3,500 under Generals Craufurd and Alten to Vigo to embark there while he took the main army to La Coruña. He reached La Coruña on 11 January 1809 to find that the British fleet had not yet arrived, and had no choice but to defend the town.24 In the ensuing battle, Moore was killed, and his second, Baird lost an arm.25 However, the French were repulsed and the bulk of the British forces successfully withdrawn.26 La Coruña was claimed by Soult a French victory, but Great Britain was also able to claim success.27 The British army had stopped the French with a successful strategic defensive action which brought it sufficient time to salvage its one standing army, albeit with substantial losses in terms of men and equipment.
Some reports suggest that Beresford’s brigade was part of the British rearguard in the retreat to La Coruña, but it would appear that it was just ahead of the rearguard, though called upon repeatedly to assist that rearguard under Paget. Beresford leaves us in no doubt that the retreat was difficult. Writing from Sobrado to his half-sister Anne on 5 January 1809, he stated:
I arrived here this day between Lugo and St Jago on my way to Vigo to re-embark, and to which all the army was making, but a counter-order has just arrived and tomorrow we measure back our steps to Lugo. We have had for the last twenty days the most extraordinary marching and the most intolerable weather. Most have lost their baggage from the latter cause and the roads, and I fear no good will arise from the counter-order. Our men are completely fatigued.28
The British Fleet under Rear Admiral Hood arrived with transports about 2 pm