The National Register.
London, England, 1811-06-23 00:00:00

BATTLE OF ALBUERA.

REPORT OF HIS EXCELLENCY MARSHAL DUKE OF DA L•
MATIA, TO HIS SERENE HIGHNESS THE PRINCE OF
NEUFCHATEL; M AJOR•GEN ERAL.

" MONSEIGNEUR-1 left Seville at ten o'clock on the night of
the 9th, as in my report of the 9th I had announced to you. On
the 12th, I joined, between Fuente Cantos and Burivenicie, the
division commanded by General La -lona UROU RG ; 011 the
14th, I took a position at Villa Franca and Almendralejo ; on
the 15th, at Santa Martha and Villalba. My cavalry had
pushed on close to Albuera, where I learnt that the armies to
the enemy had formed a junction. The different Spanish, Por-
tuguese, and English corps, arrived from Cadiz and from Lis-
bon, and even an English brigade, drafted from Sicily, had
menaced Andalusia. My advance had the effect of rescuing
this province, by compelling i he enemy to recall all. their corps,
in order to unit,: :hem on the Albuera. Thus, on the 15th, we
found ourselves in the presence of the hostile army, and I re-
solved not to ion an instant il.giving them battle.
4"lhe position occupied by the enemy was advantageous: it.
was at the meeting of the roans which lead to Badajoz, and to
Jimtrne.•ha, by Valverde and o:ivenza; but the Spanish division
under BLAKE hid not 3 et joined, and althou,7h ;y deterring the
engapment I might have expected some rt-,7lorcements., and
' thoue,ll I hatl at my immediate disposal only four brigades of
infantry,% making 15,000 men, with- 3000- horse, the whole
am4:unting to no more than 18,000, I th.,,..ght it adviabie to
anticipate the junction of BLAKE with his 9000 Spaniards. and
to attack them on the right, in order to throw myself upon i heir
line of communic.viwn : besides, the na:ttre of the trouiAl
dered this point ot attack the mos' advantageous. -1 krtri
General Beititsrolm, who commanded the arant roaost to
me, bad two diviguns of English infantry aritoullarig to fk:.:4OQ

m 110(X) Pertugnese, 'and 3000 Spania.. ,order
\\ICI :3000 cava;ry, making in all a strcngth of 24,000 men : but
I entertained no doubt of success.
Genera! of Division LAT ua -14tAr13onto commanded all
our cavAlry, and General of Division GIRARD commaneed the
two first brigades, making 7000 men. The Brigadier-Generals
WERLE and N 0 r comnianded each one other brigade.
.• Gen. GIDINOI-, with his hritnile, cnforcud by five squa.,
drons, under the orders of Brig.-Gun. Balcit NV:IS dirt:CtOtt to
make a false attack' on the of Albucra. I bore wit'. the
rest of the army on the right wing of the enemy,•which was at
the same time charged by our cavalry. Gem LA•rous MAD-`
BOL'AG trunlcruv red with equal address and intrepidity: he
tried, but in vain, to (Iraw out, the enemy's cavalry hit@ the
engagement ; but it persevered in keeping itmlf conslawily its
reserve • Gen. GIRARD, with his v.v.) brigades, advanced on :ms
do charge, and made hiniseif master of the enemy's po'irion.
'lli,: position had • been occupied by a Spanish division and an
English brigade, whO gave way, after a very obstinate resistance,
and wire hotly pursued. The field of battle was covered with
their dead, and we have taken a good number of pri.ontrs.
The accond line of the enemy then advanced, and fell upon our
list • with considerable effect.

gi I laying placed myself on the height. I was surprised to see
so great a number of troops; mid a little after, I learnt from a
prisoner, that BLAKE had come up with 90e0 men, and
ff,.ctvd a junction at three o'clock that morning. The contest
‘V,IS not longer equal : the. enemy more than 30,000 strong, and
I only 1t1,0C.0. I thought it therefore my duty no longer to pur-
sue my design, and. I ordered the position that had been taken
from the enemy, te be kept. In the mean time the enemy
approached close to our line, and the contest became most ter-
ri le. Gen. LATOUie MAUROtRG made a charge with the td
of the htwrs, the Ist of the lancers of the Vistula, and the 4th
and the i'tr,h of the dragoons, with each•skill and such courage,
that three English briga4es were entirely destroyed. Six pit ces
of cannon, 10(X) prieotters, and six colours (those of the 3d, Coll,
and 6th English.regiments) were left in our possession. The
enemy left us the position which we had taken from them, and
no longer dared to attack us. The tiring continued till four
o'clock in the afternoon, w In n it ceased on both sides.
" Brigadier-Generals NV.ERLE and PEPIN, were killed:
Brigadier Generals MAR.IUhIN' and BRAYER, wounded. Co-
lonel Pitowcske, of the! tfBtit retimint of light infantry, was
killed, is Were the Chiefs of Battalion, AtiTaur. and CA•Mlls,
of the I.2t;th and 28th regiments. Our loss in killed and
wounded amounts to 2,800 men. The enemy have made no
prisoners. if we except 9. or 300 wounded, that were left on the
field.

The enemy have lost three Generals killed, two English,
and one Spanish ; and two Generals wounded. A thousand
English were made prisoners (some of them have since e•-
caped, but this very day we counted /100); 1100 Spaniards were
likewise taken prisoners. All the accounts I have been able to
procure, make the loss of the enemy in killed and wounded
amount to &OW English, 2CW Spanish, and from 7 to COO
Portui;uase. There is then a total loss of 9000 men for the
enemy ; that is to say, three times the loss sustained by us.
The trqops have covered themselves with gory. Our cavalry
made the finest charges, and panieulai ly distinguished itself.
Tbe artillery maintained its re:r.utation. I had constantly in
play forty pieces of cannon, that vomited out death among the
hostiLt. ranks. The English have lost more than half of their
number.
‘• The 17th, we remained in the presence of the enemy. Five
thousand men from Eivas have joined the army of the enemy.
I continued, to keep the field of battle, and on the 18th, at the
break or day.„ I.made a flink movement upon Solana.
" I have given in charge to General GAz AN, to conduct our
English and Spanish prisoners, together with my oNVII
to with a suitable escort. As soon as I know he is ar-
rived, I shall manccuvre to unite with other troops, and to com-
plete the defeat of the enemy.

[The dispatch concludes with the usual compliment to
viduals • adding ,that a greater part of the Etirt Major, and hi*
Aides -1
e-Camp, were dismounted, anti. some wounded.]

"'Marshal Duke of DALMATIA, &c.
" Solapo, May 21, 1811."

4, Paris, June 13.

" Marshal OUDINGT (Duke of Reggio) is-arrived at Paris.
" ..,V-r.ording to the last intelligence from Salamanca, the
17).-nch quarter; of the'Army of Portugal arc! in that city. A
of o.e Army is quartered along the frontiers of Pot tugal—
tiie other troops are in cantonments in the Spanish province of
eilanca. The Army i., abundantly supplied with provisions
mi.: ammunition. Lord WELLINGTON has published fresh or-
d-rs t, reinforce the. Portuguese Army—his Army
_continues
intreaohins ascii. The right wing of the English is now sta.

province of Alentelo.
" The 1)u!se• of Is FRIA is with his head-quarters and staff at
Vallaaolid.: Ns corps occupies Old Castile, Leon, Montana,
Asturias, and the province!, ticar France. The town► of Burgos,
VaP.atiolid, of hers, are strong garrisons.
".Genertl Ho N r, Who commands in the Asturias, has re•
ceivt d rcinforcemei its to enable him to repel any attempts mad*
by the English to land on the coast."

DWERL4I. PAALIAMENT.

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TIIE NATIONAL REGISTER PQ
irdi, under CA3rANos • dotted on-the frontier' of ipattiah s:relllittlw-a, to cover the
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