[Sidenote: 1809] The regiment remained at Cork barracks until April, 1809, when it proceeded into extensive cantonments (head-quarters at Clonmell), from whence it was withdrawn in August following, and eight troops, of eighty rank and file and eighty horses per troop, embarked at Cork for Portugal. The transports sailed on the 2nd of September, and on the 12th and 13th of that month the regiment landed at Lisbon, and occupied the barracks at Belem. [Sidenote: 1810] The British army in Portugal, commanded by Lord Wellington, was occupying quarters on the Mondego. The ROYAL DRAGOONS marched a few stages up the country in January, 1810, and were stationed at Santarem and Torres Novas, in the province of Estremadura; from whence they marched, in February, to Niza and Alphalo, in the Alentejo. The enemy having an immense superiority of numbers, the British commander was reduced to the necessity of acting on the defensive, and his ultimate object was the protection of Lisbon. He, however, resolved to maintain a frontier position as long as possible; and, Ciudad Rodrigo being menaced in the end of April, the ROYAL DRAGOONS were ordered to advance to Belmonte, in the province of Beira, where they arrived on the 5th of May. The French army, commanded by Marshal Massena, Prince of Esling, proved so numerous, that all hope of preserving Ciudad Rodrigo was abandoned. The ROYAL DRAGOONS left Belmonte on the 9th of June, and proceeded to Villa Velha, from whence they marched, on the 1st of July, to Ville de Touro, and towards the end of the same month to Alverca; the enemy having taken Ciudad Rodrigo and besieged Almeida, the advanced posts of the British army were removed to _Frexadas_. The French took Almeida on the 27th of August, and on the following day attacked a squadron of the ROYALS and a squadron of the fourteenth light dragoons on piquet at _Frexadas_, under the command of Major Dorville. The enemy brought forward a superior force of cavalry, supported by infantry; but the two British squadrons, undaunted by superior numbers, charged the French horsemen with signal gallantry, and drove them from the field with the loss of many men killed and wounded, and five taken prisoners.[55] The ROYALS lost, in this encounter, two men and one horse killed, and two men and one horse wounded. The allied army retired a short distance. The ROYAL DRAGOONS continued to be actively employed, and, in a skirmish with the enemy on the 2nd of September at _Alverca_, on the main road to Almeida, they had a serjeant wounded. The regiment retired from its advanced position on the same day, and on the 19th of that month was stationed at Santa Comba Dão. The enemy continued to press upon the rear of the British army, and a party of the ROYAL DRAGOONS had another encounter with the French on the 21st of September, and had one man wounded, and another wounded and taken prisoner.