The allied army broke up from the Caya in July, and the ROYAL FUSILIERS moved towards the northern frontiers of Portugal; they halted a short period at the village of Aldea de Santa Margaritta, and afterwards marched to Aldea de Bispo. Meanwhile Lord Wellington blockaded _Ciudad Rodrigo_. Marshal Marmont assembled sixty thousand men, and advanced to relieve Ciudad Rodrigo. Lord Wellington's forces were not sufficiently numerous to warrant his hazarding a general engagement, excepting under very advantageous circumstances; he however held his positions; and on the 25th of September the FUSILIER BRIGADE, under Major-General the Honourable E. M. Pakenham, advanced to sustain a small body of troops under Major-Generals Colville and Alten, which had been attacked at _El Bodon_ by forty squadrons of French cavalry and fourteen battalions of infantry with cannon. This portion of the allied army having retrograded, the French cavalry menaced the FUSILIERS; but were deterred charging by the steady and determined countenance of the brigade. During the night Lord Wellington strengthened his position; but afterwards withdrew to a post twelve miles behind Guinaldo. The enemy coming forward with overwhelming numbers, his lordship withdrew during the night of the 26th of September, covered by the FUSILIERS and a body of cavalry. The French, pressing the British rear during the retrograde movement on the 27th of September, attacked the FUSILIERS, who were halted on a height behind the village of _Aldea de Pont_. Lord Wellington directed the SEVENTH to charge in line down the hill, and supported them with some Portuguese infantry. The ROYAL FUSILIERS dashed forward in line with the steadiness of old soldiers at a review, routed the French, and drove them down the height, to the admiration of all present; Lord Wellington witnessed the firm conduct of the ROYAL FUSILIERS, and expressed his approbation of their steady and gallant bearing. The French were afterwards repulsed in an attempt to turn the flank of the brigade by a wood: the twenty-third Fusiliers and Portuguese Caçadores turned the French left, and Aldea de Pont was again occupied by the allies. It was, however, subsequently abandoned, and the army went into position on the Coa. The French withdrew, and the ROYAL FUSILIERS went into quarters at Villa Ciervo. The regiment had been joined, a short time before, by three hundred and sixty-four young soldiers from England: its loss at Aldea de Pont was nine men killed; Captain Wylly, Lieutenants Barrington, Wallace, and Seaton, one Serjeant, and thirty-six private soldiers wounded.[20] [Sidenote: 1812]