The army under the command of Lieut.-General Graham consisted of about three thousand men[12], and a body of seven thousand troops commanded by General La Pena. The force of which the EIGHTY-SEVENTH formed part, disembarked at Algesiras on the 23rd of February, and the troops being united at Tarifa, marched from thence on the 28th of February. General Zayas pushed a strong body of Spanish troops across the river Santi Petri near the coast on the 1st of March, threw a bridge over, and formed a _tête-de-pont_. This post was attacked by the enemy on the nights of the 3rd and 4th of March, who was repulsed, though the Spaniards sustained considerable loss. On the 5th of March 1811, Lieut.-General Graham, and the army under his command, arrived on the low ridge of _Barrosa_, and gained a decisive victory over the French army under Marshal Victor, composed of the two divisions of Generals Rufin and Laval. The circumstances under which Lieut.-General Graham found himself placed were such as compelled him to attack the very superior force, in point of numbers, of his opponents. The allied army, after a night-march of sixteen hours from the camp near Veger, arrived on the morning of the 5th at the low ridge of _Barrosa_, about four miles to the southward of the mouth of the Santi Petri river. This height extends inland about a mile and a half, continuing on the north the extensive heathy plain of Chiclana. A great pine forest skirts the plain, and circles round the height at some distance, terminating down to Santi Petri, the intermediate space between the north side of the height and the forest being uneven and broken. A well-conducted and successful attack on the rear of the enemy’s lines near Santi Petri by the vanguard of the Spaniards under Brigadier-General Ladrizabel, opened the communication with the Isla de Leon, and Lieut.-General Graham received General La Pena’s directions to move down from the position of Barrosa to that of the Torre de Bermeja, about half way to the Santi Petri river, in order to secure the communication across the river, over which a bridge had been recently constructed. This latter position occupied a narrow woody ridge, the right on the sea cliff, the left falling down to the Almanza creek on the edge of the marsh. An easy communication between the western points of these two positions was kept up by a hard sandy beach. Lieut.-General Graham, while on the march through the wood towards the Bermeja, received intelligence that the enemy had appeared in force on the plain of Chiclana, about fifty miles from Tarifa, and was advancing towards the heights of _Barrosa_.