On one occasion, the post occupied by a small piquet, under Lieutenant Armstrong, was destroyed by a mine, which killed and wounded two-thirds of the piquet; the enemy at the same time making a sortie. The lieutenant was thrown some distance by the explosion, but was not seriously injured; and he took possession, with the surviving men, of some houses, and by a steady fire forced the French to retire within their works;--Lieutenant Armstrong humorously observing, “My cloak is on the post, and the French shall not even possess that as a trophy.” On another occasion, Lieutenant Harris and a party of the regiment evinced great intrepidity on the glacis. The concentration of the enemy’s numerous forces rendered it necessary for the British to raise the siege of Burgos Castle and retire, and the SIXTY-FIRST shared in the fatigues and privations of this retrograde movement. On one occasion the light company, under Lieutenant Wolfe, was employed in retarding the passage of a river by the enemy; and the regiment also aided in the destruction of one of the bridges across the Douro. The regiment arrived at the frontiers of Portugal, without losing more than one man during the retreat. It proceeded into quarters under the orders of Lieut.-Colonel Coghlan; and was joined by a strong detachment from the second battalion during the winter. [Sidenote: 1813] The progress of military organization in Portugal and Spain, with the arrival of reinforcements from England, enabled the British commander to take the field in May, 1813, with a formidable army. He drove the French from Salamanca, turned their positions on the Douro, and forced them back in disorder upon Burgos, when they destroyed the castle and retreated to the Ebro, the passage of which river they were prepared to defend; but he turned their position by a flank march, and obliged them to fall back upon Vittoria, where they formed for battle. The sixth division was left behind at Medina de Pomar, to cover the march of the magazines, and the SIXTY-FIRST were thus prevented sharing in the victory at Vittoria on the 21st of June. They were sufficiently near to hear the firing, and arrived at the field of battle on the following day, to take charge of the captured artillery and stores.