Chapter 1 Page Number Note/Query Explanation 11 - Badajoz The siege of Badajoz Began in March 1812. The trenches were dug labouriously for nearly a month before the actual storming of the fort. You can read first hand accounts of the work it took to dig them underBadajoz. 11 - Sieges To find out a big more on the theory of how to conduct an eighteenth century siege 11 - Gabion (From OED) "A wicker basket, of cylindrical form, usually open at both ends, intended to be filled with earth, for use in fortification and engineering." (Thanks to M Pottenger) 11 - Rodrigo Cuidad Rodrigo, the other key of the Portuguese/Spanish frontier had fallen in early January 11 - Bomba and Balla Bomb (shell) and ball (round shot) were two types of missiles from cannon - the ball was a round shot that bounced as it hit and was capable of taking of limbs and heads in its destructive wake, the bomb exploded. (From Adventure's in the Rifle Brigade) 12 Jesus todas todas Jesus - everything/All 12 - 95th. In the early nineteenth century it was decided to form a new regiment of the line, a 'light' regiment called the 95th. Light meaning that they would from an elite corps in the army, fulfilling skirmishing role and intelligence gathering. The numbering of line regiments was in literally in order along the 'line'. In 1816 the 95th were taken out of 'line' and became the Rifle Brigade in recognition for their loyalty, and courage in the service of the King. 11 - Coursing (OED) "The sport of chasing hares or other game with greyhounds, by sight." (thanks to M Pottenger) 12 - Brigade Major The duties of a Major of Brigade are given in a letter of Sir W. Gomm, Sept.19, 1808: "The pay and rank are the same as those of Aide-de-camp. The officer has the rank of Major during the time he holds the employment, and he is not considered as generally belonging to the General's family so much as the Aide-de-camp. The Situation is more independent" (Carr-Gomm's Life of Sir W. Gomm, 1881, p.106). 12 - Officers Mess From Sir John Kincaid, Pg 23 Adventures in the Rifle Brigade. "The officers of each company form a mess of themselves. One remains in camp to attend to duties of the regiment. A second attends to the mess; he goes to the regimental butcher, and bespeaks a portion of the only purchasable commodities, hearts, livers, and kidneys, and also to see whether he cannot do the commissary out of a few extra biscuit, or a canteen of brandy; and the remainder of the gentlemen are at large for the day. But while they go hunting among the neighbouring regiments for news, and the neighbouring houses for curiosity, they have always an eye to their mess, and miss no opportunity of adding to the general stock." 12 - Harum Scarum "said of anyone running or walking hastily, and in a hurry, after they know not what." From 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar tongue. 13 - Thomas Picton's fighting 3rd Division Army was divided into 7 divisions - Picton's 3rd division was one of the finest. See Sir Thomas Picton 13 Outwork Picurina Fort one of the forts of Cuidad Rodrigo. 13 - Marmont One of the three main French commanders sent by Napoleon. He replaced Massena in 1811 as head of the Army of Portugal, one of the two main French armies on the PeninsulaMarmont 13 - Soult He was in overall charge of the French Armies on the Peninsula Soult 14 - Light Division made up of 95th, 52nd, 3rd Portuguese Cacadores and under Craufurd's command. It was formed on 22 Febraury 1810 initially by taking Craufurd's brigade from the third division and breaking it into two brigades. Each brigade had companies of the 1st Battalion of the 95th, a battalion of Portuguese Cacadores. One brigade was given a 1st Battalion of the 43rd and the other the 1st battalion of the 52nd. 14 - Death was a common occurrence of 46 Battalions under Wellington at the end of 1811 there was an average strength of 550 ( A battalion is made of up around 1,000 men). This was not only the casualty of war alone, campaigning was a hard life. They had no tents, they would sleep in the cold open, they were subject to poor hygiene, badly cooked, stored, slaughtered meat, ill fitting shoes, clothing meant constant sources of infection. There was also the prevalence of malaria in these countries and many men were invalided out of the army from recurring attacks. Death could come from battle or from complications, if not actual sickness itself. 14 - Barnard Profile as yet unwritten - to come. See page 62 (chapter 2) for a little more information. 14 - Craufurd - See Robert Craufurd 14 - Vandeleur - See Vandeleur 15 - Enfilade To shoot down a line of men rather than directly at it. 15 - Connaught Rangers 88th - raised in 1790 - wore pale yellow facings with sliver braiding on their uniforms 16 - Light bobs for light infantry men - from 1785 - "A light Bob on each side, with his arms sloped." 18 Monte Video Uruguay at age 19, Harry was never particularly certain of his birthdate, in his autobiography he is out by a year. If you want to read about the first few years of his life and military career you can find them at The Autobiography of Sir Harry Smith 18 - He had been in Sweden (1809) with Sir John Moore. Sir John Moore had been sent there to negotiate with the king - who apparently in common with the other royalty of the time, was somewhat insane. Sweden had been unstable since the assassination of the king in 1792. But Moore's quarrel with the King about what methods he should use wrecked the operation. 18- Corunna - (1809) - A winter retreat. In short Sir John had reached Madrid in late 1808 but found himself totally unsupported by the Spanish and forced to retreat to the border. He retreated but realised he would have to make for Corunna in Northern Spain with the strength of Soult's army at his heels. It resulted in one of the most harrowing stories of the war. The retreat over Cantabrian Mountains began on January 1st and lasted 14 days, costing some 5,000 lives. Soult and his army followed them across, and tried to cut off the British retreat to the harbour of Corunna where ships waited to transport the troops back to Britain. Moore turned the troops and fought back successfully but was killed in the battle. 27,000 British troops made it back to Britain. 18 - Coa - Was an example of near disaster for the British forces thanks to a rash move from Craufurd The Coa is a River. This is from Chapter 5 - of the Autobiography of Harry Smith describing the action of 1810. "While Massena prepared his army to invade Portugal and besiege Almeida, we were daily on the alert and had frequent skirmishes. General Craufurd, too, by a variety of ruses frequently made the whole French army turn out. In the early morning of the 24th of July (I was on picquet with Leach and my Company that night) the enemy moved forward with 40,000 men. Our force, one Brigade of Horse Artillery, three Regiments of cavalry, five of infantry, were ordered by the Duke to remain as long as possible on the right bank of the Coa, where there was a bridge over the river on the road from Almeida into Portugal to Celerico and Pinhel, posting ourselves between the fortress and the bridge, so as to pass over so soon as the enemy advanced in force. In place of doing this, Craufurd took up a position to our right of Almeida, and but for Colonel Beckwith our whole force would have been sacrificed. Fortunately a heavy rain had fallen, which made the Coa impassable except by the bridge, which was in our possession, and the enemy concentrated his force in one rush for the bridge [24 July]. During the Peninsular War there never was a more severe contest. The 43rd lost 17 officers and 150 men, my Regiment 10 officers and 140 men. When we passed the bridge my section was the rear-guard of the whole, and in a rush to drive back the enemy (with whom we were frequently absolutely mixed), my brother Tom and I were both severely wounded, and a Major Macleod, a noble fellow, afterwards killed at Badajoz, put me on his horse, or I should have been taken. The enemy made several attempts to cross, but old Alister Cameron, Captain in the Rifle Brigade, had posted his Company in a ruined house which commanded the bridge, and mainly contributed to prevent the passage of the enemy, who made some brilliant attempts. The bridge was literally piled with their dead and they made breastworks of the bodies. On this day, on going to the rear wounded, I first made the acquaintance of my dear friend Will Havelock, afterwards my whipper-in, who was joining the 43rd fresh from England, with smart shako and jacket. I had a ball lodged in my ankle-joint, a most painful wound. We were sent to Pinhel, where the 3rd Division was seven leagues from the action, the nearest support (?). Sir Thomas Picton treated us wounded en princes." And this from Jonathon Leach in Rough Sketches of Life of an Old Soldier. "The Light Division never did affect to place itself on a pedastal, as being superior to its comrades in arms; nor on the other hand when the most honourable, dangerous, harrassing, and reponsible post was allotted to it, and it was pushed across the Coa in the very teeth of Massena's numerous legions, and extensive line of country, whilst the other divisions of the army were in cantonments behind the Coa, as perfectly at their ease, and as safe from surprise, as if they had been in a garrison in England, - could it have calculated on having its prominent services called in question by men, many of whom sarcely ever saw the Light Division in their lives, and were ignorant of the manner in which it was constantly employed in every successive campaign." 18 - Belemites Belem was where the army sent men to recover from injury, and where malingerers tried to get to - hence the very unflattering terms, Belemite, Belem ranger. You can read about an incident in Chapter 5 of Harry Smith's autobiography. The term Belem Ranger most likely came to Heyer from Edward Costello's book - Adventures of a soldier - in Chapter 6 he says "In a few weeks after our arrival at Lisbon, I became sufficiently recovered to leave the hospital and was accordingly transferred to Bleme, a place much noted amongst us for every species of skulk, but better known to my fellow soldiers as the 'Belem Rangers'. The chief part of the 58th and 87th regiments were....doing duty there. Belem itself is about two miles from from Lisbon. Chapter 5 18 - Arruda The 95th were quartered there in 1810/1811 during the retreat to the lines of Torres Vedras. It was supposed to be a military outpost and they every minute expected to have to retreat further back due to French attack. In keeping with the policy of the retreat they burned and destroyed anything that could feed or be useful to the French there. Unfortunately, the French didn't attack and the 95th spent longer there than they could possibly imagine, and they regretted having destroyed so many things that could have added comfort to their stay. As Sir John Kincaid commented "We were in hopes that, afterwards, the enemy would have forced the post, if only for an hour, that we might have saddled them with the mischief; but as they never even made the attempt, it left it in the power of ill-natured people to say, that we had plundered one of our own towns. This was the only instance during the war in which the light division had reason to blush for their conduct, and even in that we had the law martial on our side, whatever gospel law might have said against it." 19 - Redinha - In Portugal, fought on 12 March, 1811. The army has just come out of wintering over Lisbon protected behind the Lines of Torres Vedras. Redinha was one of the battles to drive the French from Portugal. From Chapter 6 The Autobiography of Sir Harry Smith "At Redinha my Company was in the advance [12 Mar.], supported by Captain O'Hare's. A wood on our front and right was full of Frenchmen. The Light Companies of the 3rd Division came up. I asked, "Are you going to attack that wood?" A Captain of the 88th Light Company, whom I knew, quite laughed at my question. I said very quietly, "You will be beat back, and when you are, I will move on the edge of the wood and help you." How he laughed! My prediction was very soon verified: he was wounded, and picked up by my Company, which I moved on the right flank of the French and stopped them immediately. I sent to my support, O'Hare, to move up to me. The obstinate old Turk would not, and so I was obliged to come back, and had most unnecessarily five or six men wounded. The Plain of Redinha is a fine field for military display, and our lines formed to attack Ney's rearguard were magnificent. The enemy had many guns in the field, with prolonged lines, an excellent mode for retreat on such ground, and no rearguard was ever drawn off in more masterly style, while I thought our attack in lines was heavy, slow, and not half so destructive as a rush of many contiguous columns would have been. The enemy had to retire over a bridge through the village of Redinha, and we Riflemen sorely pressed them on their left. A line of French infantry, concealed behind an atalaya (or tower) on a hill good for the purpose, were lying down as my Company and the one commanded by that wonderful Rifleman, Willie Johnstone, got within twenty yards of them. To our astonishment, up jumped the line, fired a volley (they did not hit a man), and went about. At them we all went like devils, a regular foot race, except for me and my little horse Tiny, from which I could not dismount. In the pursuit he carried me down a rock twelve feet high, and Johnstone and I got to the bridge and cut off half a Battalion of French. So many Legions of Honour I scarcely ever saw in a group, but the eagle was off! We never told what we had done, though we enjoyed the fun, but it is an anecdote worthy of record in Napier's History." See Chapter 6 19 - Roaring boy riotous, noisy, ruffian. 19 - broth of a boy The essence of Manhood 19- Three attacks on Badajoz and a curtain wall A successful attack on a fortified object usually had a number of fronts to split the inner defences and to try to weaken at least one area for the 'forlorn hope' to penetrate. From Costello " On the eve of the Storming...captains of the companies, on their private parade, give to understand that such and such a place is to be taken by storm. Every man then, who wishes to volunteer to head the stormers, steps forward to the front, and his name is taken down by the officer. If none offer themselves the first men for duty are selected." Costello offered at least twice to be part of the forlorn hope as did Kincaid (Sir John) and notes that there was never a lack of volunteers n his company. For more information see notes to page 216 or siege 19 - Old hookey Duke of Wellington - his nose see http://heyer.org/spanishbride/images/arthur.jpg 20 - "Some work for the grenadiers" they are the 'right' of the army - the elite heavy companies of the army - named originally because they carried 'grenades'. Or see the structure of the army 20 - Guadiana River that forms the boundary between Portugal and Spain near Cuidad Rodrigo, and flows down one side of the fortifications. 20 - A division The Army was divided up first by Divisions. Each Division would have a number of Battalions, ie the 3/95 would be the third battalion of the 95th Regiment. A battalion had around 1,000 men. For more information on army structure see The army 20 - fortifications Bastions and ditches 20 - escalade (OED) "The action of scaling the walls of a fortified place by the use of ladders" 21 - Talavera (July 1809) From Adventures of a Soldier by Edward Costello: "On the following day we bivouacked near Malpartida de Placencia, when a report reached our corps that a battle had been fought at Talavera, and that the English had been beaten and dispersed. Although I believe few of us gave credit to the story, still it created some uneasiness amongst the men and officers. Its effect, however, upon our brigadier was to make him hurry forward with, if possible, increased speed. Our bivouac was immediately broken up. We got under arms and leaving the sick of the brigade behind us in the town under charge of a subaltern from each regiment, we commenced one of the longest marches, with scarcely a halt or pause, in the military records of any country. To use the words of [Sir William Napier] we passed over sixty two miles and in the hottest season of the year in twenty six hours."They made it in time, the Spanish had not provided much support, but the English had won but with terrible loss. A note on this - the distance marched is closer to 42 miles - it was probably miscalculated based on the difference in Spanish Leagues. Even so, marching 42 miles in the middle of July under full equipment is no mean feat given that the marchers had to carry at this stage - (From Costello) "knapsack and shirts, two shirts, two pair of stockings, one pair of shoes, ditto soles and heels, three brushes, box of blacking, razor, soap-box and strap, and also at the time an extra pair of trousers, a mess tin, center tin and lid, haversack and canteen, greatcoat and blanket, a powder-flask filled, a ball bag contaning thirty loose balls, a small wodden mallet used to hammer the ball into the muzzle of [the] rifles; belt and pouch, the latter containing fifty rounds of ammunition , sword belt and rifle." There was also squad equipment to be divided up including four bill-hooks that weighed six pounds each - so every second day they would have to carry one of these as well. This probably amounted to 70-80 pounds of weight in poorly fitted packs, ill fitting clothing, hot and not designed for summer spanish conditions, and shoes which did not have left and right feet and probably did not fit properly anyway. Prior to the Talavera march Costello estimates that 400 of his Battalion died before even a shot was fired in Spain- and tells of two men who fell out of the march and shot themselves so they did not have to go on. 21 - Uniform - smart green pelisse - See The Rifle Brigade 21 - Johnny Raw sometimes called a Johnny Newcombe. A fresh recruit 22 - Double ration of grog - rum 22 - Orderlies and batmen Orderlies are either soldiers or non-commissioned officers who carry orders between superior officers. A batman is an officers servant. 23 - "The Turk" the armies most famous Sutler" A pedlar who follows the army selling goods and food to them, a petty tradesman. 23 - black strap instead of port most Port comes from the Douro region of Portugal - (OED) "black strap (or stripe), an inferior kind of port wine, also a mixture of rum and treacle taken as a beverage" (thanks to Mark Pottenger for this) 23 - Light Bob's and Enthusiastics and Pioneers Light Bob's were the Light infantry soldiers, Enthusiastics were the 4th division - in fact this term wasn't coined for them until 1813 when Wellington sent a despatch commending the 'enthusiastic conduct of the 4th division' at at the battle of Sorauren in the Middle of July that year. The Pioneer's were the men of Lt General Sir James Leith's fifth Division. It seems that all the divisions had nicknames, the men of the first Division (under Stewart) were known as "the Gentlemen's Sons", no doubt because there a number of guards regiments in there. 23 - The Beau Another Wellington nickname, he was a very natty dresser. 23 - Money Problems The army was continually underpaid, and soldiers continually owed money by the commissariat. As vital items were provided for the soldiers in theory this didn't matter too greatly. 25 - glacis from 'glacier' a slope often slippery, in front of fortifications - slows down the assault 25 - Sentinel gardezvous Sentinel - Look out - watch out. 25 - qui vive - who lives - who is there [From Adventures in the Rifle Brigade - Kincaid] 25 - counterscarp - exterior slope of a ditch opposite fortifications 27 - Chevaux de frise of sword blades - sword blades chained together to cut up people trying to charge in - a lethal and razor sharp obstacle - in the case of the one at Cuidad Rodrigo, Costello describes it as "Consisting of a piece of heavy timber studded with sword blades, turning on an axis." The storming parties carried hatchets to deal with them, but they could become lost if those carrying them were shot before reaching the point, or dropped on the way. In Christopher Hibbert's biography of Wellington, he describes the defences on Cuidad Rodrigo which would have been similar for any fortress; The first storming column struggled to clamber up the slopes and across the imperfect breaches, treading on to the sharp spikes of clatrops and planks studded with points of mails, being blown apart by mines, mutilated by shells and grenades, bured by fire balls and knocked over by posder barrels, coming up against chevaux-de-frise made from Spanish sword blades, carrying scaling ladders, many of which proved too short, taunted by the shouts of the French troops on the walls and with the piercing sound of their own bugles ringing in their ears." 28 - cunette full of water - (OED) "A trench sunk along the middle of the dry ditch or moat, serving as a drain, and as an obstacle to the passage of the enemy, or to prevent mining." (From Mark Pottenger) In fact many of the trenches and cunette's built by the enemy were linked to rivers and filled with water to prevent storming. Edward Costello writes about almost drowning in one which was unexpectedly and suddenly filled with water. 31 - Prince of Orange - The Duke had a number of young peer's or sons of peer's on his staff, of which the Prince of Orange was one. It was said that Wellington preferred his staff to men of ability and title rather than men of ability and no title, they included three men related to him by marriage as well as Marquess of Worcester (later the 7th Duke of Beaufort), Lord Fitzroy Somerset, Lord Burgesh and Charles, Lord March (mentioned later). Wellington did not suffer fools though, he dismissed his nephew, William Wellesley-Pole for being 'lamentably ignorant and idle' and for 'doing things he has no right to do.' For more on Prince William of Orange see Prince of Orange 31 - DeLancey Sir William deLancey was a much valued member of The Duke's staff, he was later called to serve as the QMG for Wellington at Waterloo. He was badly injured and died there. He is remembered by his wife of less than a month in her account of that time, "A Week at Waterloo" by Lady de Lancey. 31 - Quartermaster Surtees - Quartermaster to the 95th Regiment - he wrote an autobiography of his time. 33- Kindcaid's Lazy unconcern See Sir John Kincaid's "Random Shots of a Rifleman" or "Adventures in the Rifle Brigade which are accounts of his adventures to see just how laconic and good natured he was. They make very good reading as they are light, funny and full of fascinating insights into military life of the day. 34 - The sack of Badajoz Sieges were conducted on a kind of code of honour. The fortifications were carefully approached by digging a series of trenches while the walls were constantly battered by shell to create a weak point. At that point it was considered reasonable for the fortress to surrender without loss of honour. To take a fortress by storming meant enormous loss of life and the bitterness among the men who watch their friends die around them 'needlessly' usually translated into an orgy of violence, and the total sack of the city if they succeeded. This happened at both Badajoz and Cuidad Rodrigo. The storming to the fortress was usually led by a band into the weak point, this band was called "The Forlorn Hope" usually because they had little hope of gaining success and much hope of losing their lives. For more details see Siege 35 - Hidalgo - Spanish Nobleman 38 - Piquets the watch, sentinels 39 - San Cristobal (how far from Badajoz?) 40 - 'tatts' Tattersalls 40 - Mantillas lace head covering 44 - Mi pobrecita my poor little girl (one) 44 - toda mi vida All my life.

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