But at the end of August, the three companies of the 1st Battalion, which had been to Sweden with Sir John Moore, and had been disembarked in the Mondego on the 28th, joined their comrades in camp at Torres Vedras. There were now, therefore, five companies of the 1st and four of the 2nd on active service. Early in September the five 1st Battalion companies moved across the Tagus to Villa Viciosa, where they were quartered; and the four 2nd Battalion companies soon after drew towards Lisbon, and encamped near it. The French army had not yet embarked, and the best feeling existed between our men and their late opponents; Riflemen and French soldiers walking about the streets of Lisbon and drinking together in the wine-shops. Sir John Moore soon after assumed the command of the army; and moved from before Lisbon at the end of October. The Riflemen, marching with the central division, under Moore himself, on the 27th, by way of Abrantes, crossed the frontier into Spain on November 12, and proceeded by Ciudad Rodrigo to Salamanca, where they arrived about the 13th. Meanwhile, five companies of the 1st Battalion still at home, embarked, under Major Norman M’Leod, to join the other companies already in Portugal; and four of the remaining companies of the 2nd Battalion embarked at Harwich, under Colonel Wade. After a short detention at Falmouth, they sailed for Spain, and disembarked at Corunna on October 26.[55] They were attached to the force under the command of Sir David Baird, and the Riflemen of both Battalions formed the advanced guard. A day or two after landing they marched to Betanzos, and thence through Lugo, Villa Franca, and Cacabelos, to Astorga, which they reached on November 26. Already on this march they experienced great privations, owing to the defective arrangements of the Commissariat; and it was not until they reached Celada, a village a few miles in advance of Astorga, where they halted for some days, that they were sufficiently supplied with provisions. They were then sent forward to La Bañeza; but after a few days’ halt they were, on account of a report that the enemy were in force in their front, recalled to Celada. Hence, on account of the utter rout of the Spanish armies, under Palafox and Castaños, at Tudela, Moore ordered Baird’s force to retire again to Corunna; and they retreated, the Riflemen now forming the rear-guard and halting at Cacabelos, while the army moved on to Villa Franca. But after a few days, Baird’s force was again ordered forward; and the Riflemen, now again forming the advanced guard, moved up through Astorga and La Bañeza to Benevente, which they reached on December 15. They marched again on the 17th, through Valderas, Mayorga, and Sahagun, and reached the Convent of Trianon, about a league from the latter place, on the 20th.