HLI Chronicle 1909 - The Royal Highland Fusiliers

40 HIGHLAND LIGHT INFANTRY CHRONICLE.Sir John Moore, undaunted by almost overwhelmingdifficulties, decided to move hisarmy in one body to Salamanca by Almeida,but after part of his force was already inmovement he received information from nativeofficers of the country that the roads werein such a state as to render them impassablefor artillery; he accordingly determined tomodify his plan, and detached the whole ofhis artillery to accompany the division of SirJohn Hope, which was to proceed by the roadto Madrid as far as the Escurial, and thenceto rejoin his main body at Salamanca. Hispreparations were completed by the 26th ofOctober, on which day he left Lisbon, onlythree weeks after receipt of the plan of campaignfrom England.On the reorganisation of Moore's army theSeventy-First were now brigaded with the36th and 92nd Regiments, under BrigadierGeneral Oatlin Oraufurd, and placed in thedivision of General Sir John Hope,* which,we have already stated, received orders toadvance by the'longer route by Madrid.The Regiment broke up camp, and marchedfrom Lisbon on the 27th of October, and proceededup the Tagus to Abrantes, thence toOampo Mayor, where they were quartered inan old battery, and remained for a fortnighta waiting the order to cross the Spanishfrontier. On receipt of this order the Regimentmarched into Badajoz, where the Britishtroops were received with expressions of thegreatest joy, and rich and poor alike wereprofuse in their hospitality to officers and men.Sir Jahn Hope's division now rflceived ordersto advance on the Escurial, seven leagues N.-W.of Madrid, and marched by the road leadingthrough Merida, Truxillo, and Jaraicejo,crossjng the Tagus to the north bank at thebridge of Almaraz. tWhilst halted at Truxillo an incident tookplace which might have led to considerable* Afterward, the Earl of Hopetoun.t The Seventy-First later in the war took a brillia,ntpart in the capture of the French forts guarding thisbridge. l'hi9 aetion took place On the 19th of May,1812.ill-feeling between the two Highland Battalionsof Oraufurd's Brigade, which, however,was happily unaccompanied by anysuch unfortunate consequences. As the 92ndwere the only regiment in the division wearingthe kilt, the people, struck by its novelty,wished to know to what country its wearersbelonged. Many of the 7lst who had been inSouth America with the Regiment could talkSpanish, and by way of a joke some mischievousspirits told the Spaniards that the92nd were bad characters, and that the kiltwas a mark of their disgrace. The Spaniards,indignant at such a set of ladrones being sentto their country, refused to have any dealingswith them, the mayor of the town even decliningto furnish rations. When this sillyand mischievous report became known to themen of the 92nd, a deputation from eachOompany, with the Quartermaster at theirhead, went to the Oommanding Officer andlaid the rase before him, demanding satisfaction.Th~ Oommanding Officer went toSir John Hope, who was then in Truxillo; aninquiry was made, and the perpetrators ofthis foolish joke, which probably had led tomnch more serious results than they had evercontemplated, were severely punished. Thusended an affair which might have resulted ina dangerous feud between the two distinguishedHighland Regiments, which were afterwardsfast friends, and intimately connected in thesame brigade throughout the whole of the longyears of fighting in the Peninsula. *During the march the Regiment did not findthat the inhabitants were so overjoyed tosee the Briti:;;h troops as had been the peopleof Badajoz; although greeting them withoutward expressions of joy, when it came topractical hospitality they were not always sopleasant, as we learn from the" Vicissitudes."" In the course of this march we had notthe opportunities of knowing the manners andcustoms of the inhabitants which we afterwardshad; however, we could not but see*" 'l'he Life of :\ RE'giment: History of thE' GordonHighlander~," by J,ieut.-Co1onel Gr(':enhill G~dyne,