Historical Record of the Thirty-ninth, or the Dorsetshire Regiment of Foot: containing an account of the formation of the regiment in 1702, and of its subsequent services to 1853.Cannon, Richard
History
Historical Record of the Thirty-ninth, or the Dorsetshire Regiment of Foot: containing an account of the formation of the regiment in 1702, and of its subsequent services to 1853.
Cannon, Richard
Great Britain. Army. Dorset Regiment -- History; Great Britain. Army. Regiment of Foot, 39th (Dorsetshire) -- History
The second battalion accompanied the force under Major-General
Rowland Hill in all its movements in Portugal and on the frontiers
of Spain, and in August 1810 was one of the corps of the second
division, when it formed, by forced marches, the memorable
junction with Viscount Wellington on the heights of _Busaco_.
Lieut.-Colonel George Wilson being appointed to the charge of a
brigade, Major Patrick Lindesay, afterwards Major-General Sir
Patrick Lindesay[26], commanded the battalion, which formed part
of the right of the army in the battle at _Busaco_, on the 27th of
September, but the battalion was not engaged in the action. When
General Regnier attacked the position held by the third and fifth
divisions, Major-General Hill withdrew towards his left to support
them: it was unnecessary, however, these divisions having repulsed
the enemy, and he therefore continued in his original position.
After the battle of Busaco, the second battalion accompanied the
army in its retrograde movement to the Lines of _Torres Vedras_,
where it remained until orders were given to advance in pursuit of
the French troops towards Santarem, when it crossed the Tagus with
the corps under Major-General Hill, and occupied cantonments at
Almeirem, immediately opposite the head-quarters of the enemy.
[Sidenote: 1811. 2nd Batt.]
In consequence of the French army retreating from Portugal
into Spain, the second battalion of the THIRTY-NINTH regiment
accompanied the second division in its movements towards the
frontiers, and was present at the expulsion of the enemy from the
fortress of Campo Mayor on the 25th of March 1811; subsequently
the battalion crossed the Guadiana at Jerumenha, and was present
with the second division in a variety of skirmishes at Los Santos
and Zafra, as well as at the investment of _Badajoz_ on the 2nd of
May, where the battalion was actively employed in making approaches
and constructing batteries against that fortress until the 14th of
May, when it marched with the corps under Marshal Sir William Carr
(now Viscount) Beresford to _Albuhera_, where the battalion arrived
on the evening of the 15th of that month, and was attacked on the
following day by the French army under Marshal Soult.
In the battle of _Albuhera_, fought on the 16th of May, the
second battalion of the THIRTY-NINTH regiment, although only four
hundred strong, bore a distinguished part. The brigade to which it
belonged, having been brought up at a critical moment, materially
assisted in deciding the fate of the day, preventing by its fire
the deployment of a heavy column of the enemy’s reserve, which
was ultimately obliged to give way with considerable loss, and
retreated in confusion across the river Albuhera.
On this occasion the second battalion had Lieutenant George Beard
and fourteen rank and file killed; Captain James Brine, Lieutenants
John William Pollard, Francis H. Hart, Ensign Charles Cox, four
serjeants, and seventy-three rank and file wounded.
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