The THIRTEENTH, on this occasion, evinced the superiority of their discipline over their equally brave and numerically superior adversaries, by their greater quickness in rallying after the different attacks,--and this circumstance, with the skilful and determined use of their weapons, greatly tended to their brilliant success in this well-fought field.
An officer, who made his escape from Badajoz a few days after this affair, reported that the French infantry had brought in a great number of severely wounded cavalry soldiers--chiefly sabre wounds[6].
Preparations were subsequently made for besieging Badajoz, and the Guadiana was passed in boats in the early part of April; on the night of the 16th of April an outpost of the THIRTEENTH Dragoons, which had been relieved by a squadron of Portuguese cavalry, was surprised by a body of French troops from _Olivenza_, and only twenty men escaped. The loss was three men wounded, Captain Morris, Lieutenant Moss, fifty soldiers, and sixty-five horses taken prisoners. The imagined security of their position, induced by the Portuguese squadron being in their front, and their consequent neglect of due precautions, led to the surprise of this party, by an overwhelming force of the enemy, when totally unprepared for resistance. This was not forgotten,--and the THIRTEENTH never gave occasion for the repetition of a similar severe but wholesome lesson during the remainder of the war.
The siege of _Olivenza_ was undertaken by the fourth division, and the army advanced to drive the French detachments from the province of Estremadura. The British and Portuguese cavalry arrived at _Los Santos_ on the 16th of April, and fell in with a body of French heavy cavalry, when the leading troops of the THIRTEENTH, under Captains Boyse and Macalister, promptly formed and checked the advance of the enemy. The remainder of the regiment, commanded by Colonel Head, quickly formed line,--charged,--cut down many of the enemy,--took two officers and a number of men and horses,--and continued in close and rapid pursuit for several miles, successfully frustrating every attempt of the French to rally, and driving them from the field in utter confusion. The enemy suffered a very severe loss in killed and wounded. The left squadron of the THIRTEENTH, partly formed of the men who had escaped on the 6th instant, had the satisfaction of recapturing some of their horses and accoutrements, and severely revenging their own and their comrades' mischance on some of the very authors of it, who were among their opponents on this occasion. It was observed that these men displayed the most determined gallantry: nothing daunted by the superior numbers of the enemy immediately opposed to them, they rushed fearlessly into their ranks, and committed terrible havoc with their sabres. Captain Doherty had a horse shot under him in this affair. The French commander, whose gallant bearing in leading his men to the attack was long a theme of admiration among the officers who witnessed it, was killed by private _James Beard_ of the regiment, much to the regret of those who had observed his gallantry.