It was afterwards employed in the blockade of Ciudad Rodrigo; and on the 24th of September it was ordered to a position on the heights near the village of _El Bodon_, on the left of the Agueda and within a few miles of Ciudad Rodrigo. The enemy, having assembled an immense force to relieve the place, advanced on the morning of the 25th, and the second battalion of the FIFTH sustained an attack from a vastly superior French force, consisting of cavalry, infantry, and artillery, in so distinguished a manner, that its conduct was held up in General Orders as an example to the whole army. The behaviour of the battalion on this proud occasion is described by Lord Wellington in his public despatch as follows:-- "The enemy's attention was principally directed during this day (the 25th) to the portion of the third division on the hills between Fuente Guinaldo and Pastores. About eight in the morning they moved a column, consisting of between thirty and forty squadrons of cavalry, and fourteen battalions of infantry, and twelve pieces of cannon, from Ciudad Rodrigo, in such a direction that it was doubtful whether they would attempt to ascend the hills by Encina, El Bodon, or by the direct road towards Fuente Guinaldo, and I was not certain by which road they would make their attack till they actually commenced it upon the last. As soon as I saw the direction of their march, I had reinforced the second battalion of the FIFTH regiment, which occupied the post on the hill, over which the road passes to Guinaldo, by the Seventy-seventh regiment, and by the Twenty-first Portuguese regiment, under the command of Major-General the Honourable Charles Colville, and Major-General Alten's brigade, of which only three squadrons remained, which had not been detached, drawn from El Bodon, and I ordered there a brigade of the fourth division, from Fuente Guinaldo, and afterwards from El Bodon the remainder of the troops of the third division, with the exception of those at Pastores, which were too distant. In the mean time, however, the small body of troops at this post sustained the attack of the enemy's cavalry and artillery. One regiment of French dragoons succeeded in taking two pieces of cannon, which had been posted on a rising ground on the right of our troops; but they were charged by the second battalion of the FIFTH regiment, under the command of Major Ridge, and the guns were immediately re-taken. "While this operation was going on on the flank, an attack was made on the front by another regiment, which was repulsed in a similar manner by the Seventy-seventh regiment, and the three squadrons of Major-General Alten's brigade charged repeatedly different bodies of the enemy, which ascended the hill on the left of the two regiments of British infantry, the Portuguese regiment being posted in the rear of their right.