The two battalions of the FIFTH were thus united in time for the whole regiment to share in the honours and triumphs of the 22nd of July, 1812, the glorious victory of _Salamanca_. In the course of this day, while the French were manœuvring, the third division, being suddenly ordered to cross their line of march, sprang forward with an energy and force which broke the half-formed French lines into fragments, and drove them in confusion upon the support. The shock of this gallant and unexpected attack threw the enemy into confusion; and the division continuing its spirited advance, the right flank of the first battalion of the FIFTH was threatened by a charge of cavalry, when three companies were thrown back _en potence_, and, coolly allowing the enemy's horse to advance so close that every shot would tell, opened so steady and well-directed a fire, that they were instantly repulsed, and they fled in disorder. The division again bearing onwards in its victorious course, its attack was rendered decisive by a brilliant charge of the heavy cavalry; and finally the enemy sustained an entire overthrow. Lieutenant-Colonel Pratt, of the first battalion, Lieutenant-Colonel the Honourable Henry King, of the second (who in the course of the day succeeded to the temporary command of the brigade), and Captain Bishop (on whom at the same time the temporary command of the second battalion devolved), obtained medals; and the good conduct of the regiment in general was rewarded by authority, under date October the 25th, 1817, to bear the word "SALAMANCA" inscribed on its colours. Its loss amounted to one serjeant and ten rank and file killed; and Captain Simcocks, Lieutenants Bird, McPherson, O'Dell, Gunn, Hamilton, and Hillyard, Ensign Pratt, and eleven serjeants, one drummer, and one hundred and nineteen rank and file, wounded. The loss of the second battalion in the brilliant but severe service in which it had now for three years[43] been constantly engaged was so serious, that, on the arrival of the army in Madrid, the capture of which capital was the first fruit of the victory of Salamanca, it was ordered to England to recruit its thinned ranks. After transferring the effective privates to the first battalion, it took leave of the army at Madrid on the 3rd of September, embarked at Lisbon in November, and on the 1st of December landed at Plymouth, from whence it marched, on the following day, to Kingsbridge, to join its depôt, and finally, in January, 1813, took up its quarters in Exeter. The estimation in which this battalion was held by the Earl of Wellington will be best shown by the following extracts from general orders, dated Arcala, July 27th, 1812.