THE DISPATCHES OF FIELD MARSHAL THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON, K.G. DURING HIS VARIOUS CAMPAIGNS IN INDIA, DENMARK, PORTUGAL, SPAIN, THE LOW COUNTRIES, AND FRANCE. FROM 1799 TO 1818. COMPILED FROM OFFICIAL AND AUTHENTIC DOCUMENTS, BY LIEUT. COLONEL GURWOOD, ESQUIRE TO HIS GRACE AS KNIGHT OF THE BATH. VOLUME THE FOURTH. LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. MDCCCXXXV. MILITARY NARRATIVE OF THE SERVICES OF FIELD MARSHAL THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON, IN THE PENINSULA. WITH THE OFFICIAL AND OTHER DISPATCHES. His Royal Highness the Commander in Chief to Lieut. General* the Hon. Sir A. Wellesley, K.B. 'SIR, 'Horse Guards, 14th June, 1808. His Majesty having been graciously pleased to appoint you to the command of a detachment of his army, to be employed upon a particular service, I have to desire that you will be pleased to take the earliest opportunity to assume the command of this force, and carry into effect such instructions as you may receive from his Majesty's ministers. The force, which his Majesty has been pleased to place under your command, consists of the following corps : * Sir A. Wellesley had been promoted to the rank of Lieut. General on the 25th April, 1808. Whenever the 95th occurs, it is meant the regiment of three battalions which then bore that number, but now called the Rifle Brigade. VOL. IV. B * And the staff appointed to this force is composed as follows: Major General Ferguson. Brig. General Nightingall. Brig. General Fane. Brig. General Catlin Craufurd. 'On all subjects relating to your command, you will be pleased to correspond with me, and you will regularly communicate to me all military transactions, in which you may be engaged, reporting to me all vacancies that may occur in the troops under your command; and as the power of appointing to commissions is not vested in you, you will be pleased to recommend to me such officers as may appear to you most deserving of promotion, stating the special reasons, where such recommendations are not in the usual channel of seniority. 'As the regiments marked thus (*), under your command, have second battalions attached to them, and which remain in this country, it is necessary that I should acquaint you, that the first battalions under your orders being composed exclusively of the senior officers of their respective ranks, such vacancies as may occur therein, by promotion or casualty, must unavoidably be supplied by officers from the second battalions, who will be ordered immediately to join, on such vacancies being made known to me. 'Should you have occasion to recommend any gentleman for an ensigncy, you will be pleased to make known his address, in order that, if his Majesty should be pleased to confirm the recommendation, he may be directed to join the corps imme diately on his appointment. 'You will transmit, monthly, returns of the troops under your command, to the Secretary at War, and to the Adjutant General, for my information; and you will strictly adhere to his Majesty's regulations, in regard to the pay, clothing, and appointments of the troops; and your special attention must necessarily be directed to their discipline, and to the interior economy of the different corps, which is so essential, not only * The names of the other military and civil staff officers are too numerous for insertion. |