Note 187 — Chapter I

The losses of the 14th (Casal Novo) and the 15th (Foz do Arouce) have unfortunately got mixed in Martinien’s invaluable casualty lists, most of them being credited to the 14th, with the wrong heading ‘Condeixa’—which appears to mean Casal Novo. In some regiments the dates and names have not got wrong, e. g. we know that on the 14th the 27th regiment had 3 officers wounded, and 3 more at Foz do Arouce on the following day. But e. g. in the 39th Ligne Colonel Lamour is down as ‘blessé le 14 mars à Condeixa,’ while he was certainly wounded at Foz do Arouce on the 15th, where he was also taken prisoner. The total of officers recorded as hit in the 6th Corps on the 14th-15th is 22, of whom 10 were certainly casualties of the 14th. This must surely imply more than 55 in all, killed and wounded. At the low rate of 10 men per officer it would give 100—at the normal rate of 20 per officer it would be 200. But the last is probably too high. It was on this day that Marbot had his famous encounter with a rifle officer (officier de chasseurs à pied) and two hussars, of whom (according to his narrative) he slew the first and wounded the other two. It cannot be disputed that he had a fight, for he is down as wounded in the official lists. But he certainly did not kill a rifle officer. The only light division officer slain that day was Lieutenant Gifford, who was killed by a ball in the head at Casal Novo. It is also to be noted that there are no cavalry casualties in the return of March 14, or indeed since Redinha. Marbot’s supposed victims thus disappear!