Towards the end of December Lieut.-General Hill again advanced, and the THIRTEENTH Light Dragoons were employed in an attempt to surprise a body of French troops under General Dombrouski at Merida. On arriving at _La Nava_, three hundred French infantry and a party of hussars were found in the town; they immediately retired,--the infantry in square; and the THIRTEENTH and second hussars of the King's German Legion pursued. Some sharp skirmishing occurred, but the ground favouring the French, they made good their retreat to Merida, and informing General Dombrouski of the approach of British troops, he retreated during the night. The regiment afterwards returned to Monforte; its loss, in the skirmish between La Nava and Merida, was three horses killed; eleven men, five officers' horses and fifteen troop horses wounded; one man missing. On the decease of Lieut.-General Francis Craig, the colonelcy was conferred on Lieut.-General the Honorable Henry George Grey, from lieut.-colonel of the Seventh Light Dragoons, by commission dated the 30th of December, 1811. [Sidenote: 1812] While the regiment was occupying quarters at Monforte, Ciudad Rodrigo was besieged and captured by storm in January, 1812. When _Badajoz_ was besieged, the regiment advanced and formed part of the covering army. During the advance and the subsequent operations, the THIRTEENTH were employed in the arduous outpost duties of the army, and engaged in affairs and skirmishes, which were of frequent occurrence, owing to the constant alerts occasioned by the enemy's cavalry in their front, who took every opportunity of endeavouring to cut off the foraging parties, patroles, &c. In the advance to Merida, in March, the German hussars, having fallen in with the French cavalry, commenced skirmishing, and pushed them through the town and across the bridge. Major-General Long ordered the THIRTEENTH to gain the front at a gallop, which they did, and, crossing the Guadiana at a deep ford, formed and charged the enemy, who broke and fled, the regiment following, and constantly skirmishing with them till near dark, when it was ordered to discontinue the pursuit. In April the fortress of Badajoz was taken by storm, and the army afterwards quitted Estremadura, when the THIRTEENTH Dragoons were again left with Lieut.-General Hill. The regiment was employed in the enterprise against the enemy's works, which protected the bridge across the Tagus at _Almaraz_. These were destroyed on the 19th of May, to render the communications between the French armies more difficult. On this occasion the THIRTEENTH advanced to the high road by the pass of Mirabete, and were in reserve while the forts were stormed. During the summer and autumn of this year, the services of the regiment were connected with the movements of the troops under Lieut.-General Sir Rowland Hill; it performed many long marches, took part in a few skirmishes, and penetrated into the interior of Spain.