The army advanced at the dawn of the day to storm the town of Oporto; the British were kept back that day, to bring up all stragglers over brooks, hills, rivers, &c. We were under a broiling sun; it was on Tuesday, the 10th of July, 1831, when we came up in sight of Oporto. The signal was made from the squadron that went round the bay and over the bar, and passed the falls of Lordella, close to the river Doura. When the shipping came up abreast of the township, there was very little to oppose them; the army pushed forward, and took the town without exchanging a shot. We then marched through the town with colours flying, and instruments of the different regiments playing gaily; we came down to the Arsenal Square, and there we formed close columns, and lay there till further orders. I said to my next man, “I will have a glass of wine, as we have taken Oporto.” Captain Shaw coming round, and seeing me drinking, said, I was showing a bad example to the men, but, notwithstanding, I went through my degrees of finishing what I had in the glass (which was a pint one). In the course of the afternoon, about four o’clock, as we had been in close column about four hours, the British had orders to proceed to the convent of St. Lazarus, and there to remain till further orders. We occupied one part of the convent, and the old invalids of the monks (about two hundred of them) occupied the other part; they were supposed to be all in number previous to the time of our taking the town about one thousand one hundred of them, of which about nine hundred disappeared to fight in Don Miguel’s service. We occupied the apartments in the convent in which they had formerly lived; the French regiment occupied another place, at the top part of a street, called Rutendemoza, at the opposite side of the town; and the regiments of the line in and out round about Oporto--the Tachedores lay in another part of the town. There were five regiments of them; as riflemen, they had the skull and marrow bone on their shakos; they were called “Death or Glory,” and were very intimate with the British subjects.