Marshal William Carr Beresford. Marcus de la Poer Beresford

was received in Portugal to the effect that Soult and Ney had met at Lugo and suggested, erroneously as it turned out, that the combined 2nd and 6th corps were about to reinvade northern Portugal. In fact, Soult’s force was temporarily exhausted and a combination of confrontation in Galicia and poor relations between the French generals prevented their combining to present a coherent threat for the time being.

      An initial decision in mid-June that Beresford should march for Porto with a force was subsequently abandoned when the position became clear.51 Instead Wellesley divided the Allied resources in two, with the main British army marching to Spain via Abrantes in a campaign that was to culminate in victory at the battle of Talavera and the subsequent tactical retreat back to Portugal. He took with him only two Portuguese regiments, the Loyal Lusitanian Legion and the 5th Caçadores. Beresford suggested that the Portuguese would occupy Puerto de Baños and the area around Plasencia (mid way between Ciudad Rodrigo and Wellesley’s army on the Tagus) because of the fertility of the location, but Wellesley declined the suggestion and instructed him to guard the northern and north eastern frontier with a view to defending Portugal from any French incursion.52 Beresford’s Quartermaster General, D’Urban, was quite critical of this decision, claiming that it later allowed Soult to come down into this area, depriving the British army of supplies.53

      Wellesley’s instructions meant effectively that for many of the regiments involved training was ‘on the hoof’ as Beresford moved to assemble the army at Almeida. The Return of the Army for the end of July suggests he had about 18,000 men available, made up principally of fourteen regiments of regular infantry together with five battalions of caçadores, the university regiment of volunteers from Coimbra, together with the Portuguese artillery and a scratch collection of cavalry.54 Drilling took place daily on the basis that replication of manoeuvres based on British drill regulations would produce the required discipline and steadiness to face the enemy.55

      The results of the training during the summer were mixed. There was no instant achievement of an objective standard and much seems to have depended on the officers of each regiment. While there was progress, what Beresford referred to as ‘a little light begins to show on the chaos I found here’, it is probable that much more was achieved in the autumn and winter of 1809 when the army was back in encampments.56 Beresford had by then appointed Major General John Hamilton to the post of Inspector of Infantry of the Portuguese army.57 His reports to Beresford show their determination to produce an effective fighting force. The introduction of firing live ammunition on a daily basis unsurprisingly improved accuracy and engendered a real feeling of esprit de corps.58

      One of those to comment broadly on the training of certain Portuguese regiments was Lieutenant Colonel William Cox. In April 1809, Beresford had appointed Cox Commander of the fortress of Almeida. His correspondence with Beresford and Wellington both in that year and 1810 reveals a man who was not happy at Almeida and who worried about almost every aspect of his command, and it was to drive both the Marshal and the Allied commander to distraction.59 His comments on the training of the regiments at Almeida may not be representative of the position elsewhere because of Cox’s personal insecurity, but they are some of the most extensively recorded. The 12th and 24th regiments were stationed in Almeida in the second half of 1809, but by the end of October a despondent Cox reported:

      I am sorry to say that the two regiments of this garrison have made very little progress in discipline since you saw them, and particularly my own: the causes of this are various, but it is principally owing to the want of active and intelligent officers. Had the 12th regiment remained under the command of MacDonnell, I am convinced that in a short time it would have made a rapid advance from the state it is now in to very much better, but unfortunately just as he was beginning to establish a good system, of which he is very capable, and had made some progress in the first principles of Drill, with which he began de novo, he is superseded in the command by a man who, let his talents be what they may, cannot possibly have the necessary experience; having served but a few months as an officer of the line, and having passed at once from a cadet of cavalry to be Lieutenant Colonel of Militia: to do him justice I must say he is extremely active and intelligent and in time may make a very good officer; but it might perhaps have been better if he had not jumpt all at once into command.60

      James MacDonnell, referred to here by Cox, had joined the Portuguese service only on 26 August 1809 from the 78th Foot. He was to go on to become one of the heroes of Waterloo, famously with his sergeant closing the gates at Hougoument after the French forced them open.