Here the 3rd Battalion, and the two companies of the 2nd under Norcott, remained until February 1811, when they embarked under the command of General Graham on the 18th, and landed at Algeçiras on the 24th. Having bivouacked on a height near Algeçiras, they moved the next day to Tarifa, where they halted until the 26th. The two companies of the 2nd Battalion were attached to the brigade of Guards commanded by Brigadier-General Dilkes, and the four companies of the 3rd Battalion,[84] with two companies of the 47th, were brigaded under Colonel Barnard.[85] On March 1 they marched about twelve miles and bivouacked on some high ground; and the following day reached Casas Viejas, where they bivouacked on a hill, and suffered much from the bitterly cold weather. On the 3rd, having started before daylight, they reached about mid-day a lagoon through which was a ford. The Spaniards, who led the column, hesitated so long in attempting to cross, that General Graham, out of all patience, proposed to General La Peña to let the British troops advance. The 3rd Battalion was the leading regiment, and at once entered the ford in column of sections, and marched straight through it, the water reaching about to their waist. The rest of the English force followed; and the Spaniards, shamed into imitation, followed their example. The troops marched forward, and halted that night in an olive-wood on very high ground, near Vejer; the soldiers suffering from the extreme cold, which was severely felt in consequence of their wetting in crossing the lagoon, and the scarcity of wood for firing. They halted here until the evening of the 4th, when a little after dark they marched to the village of Conil, and on the morning of the 5th reached the plain of Chiclana, and halted on the eastern slope of the knoll of Barrosa. This is a ridge running in from the sea-coast about a mile and a half, and overlooking the plain, which is bounded on one side by the shore, and on the other by the forest of Chiclana. In our front was a pine-wood. About twelve o’clock General Graham put his troops in motion, and the 3rd Battalion were ordered down the hill and into the wood in order to take possession of the height of Bermeja. But they had not long moved, when Graham was informed that the enemy had debouched from the forest, and having forced the troops left on the height, were ascending the hill of Barrosa. The 3rd Battalion were instantly countermarched, and ordered to get to the plain and engage the enemy as soon as possible. On emerging from the pine-wood they found themselves in front of two battalions of the 8th Regiment, one of grenadiers, the other of voltigeurs. Two companies under Barnard were left to cover and protect the guns; while the other Riflemen of this Battalion, inclining to the left, and extending as they came up the hill, soon became engaged with their opponents. In the same way Norcott, in command of the two 2nd Battalion companies forming