APPENDICES (continued 2)
Reading edition
The numbers of this division (which had not yet been put together on October 10) seem unobtainable, save that the 1st Hussars was 712 strong. Probably Franceschi’s total would be about 2,400 sabres.
IMPERIAL GUARD.
Infantry:
Two regiments of Grenadiers (four batts.), two regiments of Chasseurs (four batts.), two regiments of Fusiliers (six batts.).
Cavalry:
One regiment each of Chasseurs à Cheval, Grenadiers, Dragoons, Gendarmes d’élite, Polish Light Horse, one squadron of Mamelukes. 36 guns.
The total was about 8,000 infantry and 3,500 horse, with 600 gunners.
N.B.—A few late-coming regiments, and a few units not attached to any division, are not included in the above tables, e.g. the 118th, 121st, and 122nd Regiments of the Line, and the 27th Chasseurs. Nor are there included the dépôt of undistributed conscripts at Bayonne, nor the battalions of National Guards forming movable columns inside the French frontier. But the 19,371 artillery of the army are included in the corps, divisions, and brigades.
GROSS TOTAL OF THE WHOLE ON OCTOBER 10.
Total. Detached. Hospital or missing. Effective present.
1st Corps 33,937 2,201 2,939 28,797
2nd Corps 33,054 7,394 5,536 20,124
3rd Corps 37,690 11,082 7,522 19,086
4th Corps 22,895 955 2,170 19,770
5th Corps 24,552 188 1,971 22,393
6th Corps 38,033 3,381 5,051 29,601
7th Corps 42,382 1,302 4,948 36,132
8th Corps 25,730 2,137 3,523 20,070
Reserve Cavalry 17,059 } 3,533 3,945 34,801
Imperial Guard 12,100
Reserve of Infantry (Dessolles, Joseph’s Guards, &c.) 13,120
Troops on the march from Germany not distributed to the corps 5,200 363 74 4,763
Columns inside the French frontier (National Guards) 8,860 107 165 8,588
314,612 32,643 37,844 244,125
Exclusive of the dépôt of conscripts at Bayonne.
XIII
SIR JOHN MOORE’S ARMY: ITS STRENGTH AND ITS LOSSES.
N.B.—The first column gives the strength of each of Baird’s regiments on Oct. 2, and of Moore’s regiments on Oct. 15, deducting from the latter men left behind in Portugal. The second column gives the men present with the colours on Dec. 19, but not those in hospital or ‘on command’ on that day. These last amounted on Dec. 19 to 3,938 and 1,687 respectively. The third column gives the numbers disembarked in England in January.
Total strength in Oct. 1808. Effective strength present on Dec. 19, 1808. Disembarked in England in Jan. 1809. Deficiency.
Cavalry (Lord Paget)
7th Hussars 672 497 575 97[751]
10th Hussars 675 514 651 24
15th Hussars 674 527 650 24
18th Light Dragoons 624 565 547 77
3rd Light Dragoons K.G.L. 433 347 377 56
3,078 2,450 2,800 278
1st Division (Sir D. Baird).
Warde’s Brigade:
1st Foot Guards, 1st batt. 1,340 1,300 1,266 74
1st Foot Guards, 2nd batt. 1,102 1,027 1,036 66
Bentinck’s Brigade:
4th Foot, 1st batt. 889 754 740 149
42nd Foot, 1st batt. 918 880 757 161
50th Foot, 1st batt. 863 794 599 264
Bentinck’s Brigade:
1st Foot, 3rd batt. 723 597 507 216
26th Foot, 1st batt. 870 745 662 208
81st Foot, 2nd batt. 719 615 478 241
7,424 6,712 6,045 1,379
2nd Division (Sir J. Hope).
Leith’s Brigade:
51st Foot 613 516 506 107
59th Foot, 2nd batt. 640 557 497 143
76th Foot 784 654 614[752] 170
[Estimate]
Hill’s Brigade:
2nd Foot 666 616 461 205
5th Foot, 1st batt. 893 833 654 239
14th Foot, 2nd batt. 630 550 492 138
32nd Foot, 1st batt. 806 756 619 187
5,032 4,482 3,843 1,189
Catlin Crawfurd’s Brigade:
36th Foot, 1st batt. 804 736 561 243
71st Foot, 1st batt. 764 724 626 138
92nd Foot, 1st batt. 912 900 783 129
2,480 2,360 1,970 510
3rd Division (Lt.-Gen. Fraser).
Beresford’s Brigade:
6th Foot, 1st batt. 882 783 491 391
9th Foot, 1st batt. 945 607 572 373
23rd Foot, 2nd batt. 590 496 418 172
43rd Foot, 2nd batt. 598 411 368 230
Fane’s Brigade:
38th Foot, 1st batt. 900 823 757 143
79th Foot, 1st batt. 932 838 777 155
82nd Foot, 1st batt. 830 812 602 228
5,677 4,770 3,985 1,692
Reserve Division (Maj.-Gen. E. Paget).
Anstruther’s Brigade:
20th Foot 541 499 428 113
52nd Foot, 1st batt. 862 828 719 143
95th Foot, 1st batt. 863 820 706 157
Disney’s Brigade:
28th Foot, 1st batt. 926 750 624 302
91st Foot, 1st batt. 746 698 534 212
3,938 3,595 3,011 927
1st Flank-Brigade (Col. R. Crawfurd).
43rd Foot, 1st batt. 895 817 810 85
52nd Foot, 2nd batt. 623 381 462 161
95th Foot, 2nd batt. 744 702 648 96
2,262 1,900 1,920 342
2nd Flank-Brigade (Brig.-Gen. C. Alten).
1st Lt. Batt. K.G.L. 871 803 708 163[753]
2nd Lt. Batt. K.G.L. 880 855 618 262[754]
1,751 1,658 1,326 425
Artillery, &c. 1,455 1,297 1,200 255[755]
Staff Corps 137 133 99 38
Total 33,234 29,357 26,199 7,035
It will be noted that if to the 29,357 of the second column there are added the 3,938 sick and the 1,687 men ‘on command,’ the gross total of the army on Dec. 19 must have been 34,982, a figure which exceeds that at the bottom of the first column. It would seem, therefore, that about 1,748 men in small detachments joined the army at Salamanca and elsewhere before Dec. 19. They must represent drafts and convoy-escorts coming up from Portugal. The apparent deficiency for the campaign therefore is 8,783. But it must not be supposed that these 8,783 men were all lost between Salamanca and Corunna: from them we must deduct (1) the 296 casualties by shipwreck while returning to England; (2) 589 rank and file who escaped individually to Portugal, and were then enrolled (along with the convalescent sick left behind by Moore’s regiments) in the two ‘battalions of detachments’ which fought at Talavera; (3) the number of sick discharged from Salamanca on to Portugal in the convoys escorted by the 5/60th and 3rd Regiments. I can nowhere find the number of these invalids stated, but it must have been large, as the total of the sick belonging to the whole army was nearly 4,000 in December. It will be a very modest estimate if we give 1,500 for those of them who were at Salamanca, the head quarters hospital of the army, and were capable of being moved back to Portugal.
We may therefore deduct under these three heads about 2,385 men. This figure taken from 8,783 leaves 6,398 for the real loss in the campaign.
But even from this total 400 more must be deducted, for 400 British convalescents were released by the Galician insurgents from French captivity and sent back to Lisbon in the spring of 1809. [‘Further papers relative to Spain and Portugal,’ p. 7 in Parliamentary Papers for 1809.]
On the whole, then, about 5,998 men were actually lost. Napier’s estimate of 3,233 (i. 502) for the total loss is certainly too low. Of these 2,189 were prisoners sent to France. [Schepeler, ‘Table of prisoners sent to France, 1809-13’ on p. 150.] The remaining 3,809 perished in battle, by the road, or in hospital.