Sir John Slade , 1st Baronet General Sir John " Black Jack " Slade , 1st Baronet , GCH ( 31 December 1762 – 13 August 1859 ) served as a general officer in the British Army during the Peninsular War . He lacked talent as a combat leader . Though Slade was praised in official reports , Arthur Wellesley , 1st Duke of Wellington criticized his actions privately and finally replaced him with a more efficient officer . Despite this , he attained high rank after the war . His descendents include two admirals . Background and early military life . Slade was the son of John Slade ( d . 1801 ) of Maunsel Grange , Somerset , a Victualling Commissioner , and his wife , Charlotte " née " Portal . He obtained a commission as cornet in the 10th Dragoons on 11 May 1780 , and became a lieutenant on 28 April 1783 , captain on 24 October 1787 , major on 1 March 1794 , and lieutenant colonel on 29 April 1795 . On 18 October 1798 , he exchanged to the 1st Dragoons ( the Royals ) . He was appointed equerry to the Prince Ernest Augustus , Duke of Cumberland in 1800 , and became a colonel in the army on 29 April 1802 . In June 1804 , he was made brigadier , and gave up command of the Royals . He is said to " have danced with Marie Antoinette who gave him a snuff box " . Peninsular War cavalry general . Slade saw no active service until , in October 1808 , he was sent to Corunna in command of a hussar brigade . He led the 10th Hussars in the successful cavalry action at Sahagún on 20 December . The 10th arrived too late to play an active role in the action , primarily because Slade insisted on making a stirring , and apparently long , speech ending in the words : " blood and slaughter , march ! " Slade shared in the arduous work of the cavalry during John Moore ' s retreat , and served as a volunteer at the Battle of Corunna , when the cavalry had embarked . He was employed on the staff in England for six months , but returned to the Peninsula in August 1809 with a brigade of dragoons , and served there for four years . He participated in the battles of Busaco and Fuentes de Oñoro . He commanded the cavalry division , in Stapleton Cotton ' s absence , during André Masséna ' s retreat from Portugal in the spring of 1811 . He was said to have missed opportunities , but Wellington mentioned him favourably in his dispatch of 14 March . On 11 June 1812 , when he was under Rowland Hill in Estremadura , Slade was beaten by Charles Lallemand in a cavalry action at Maguilla . Each side deployed 700 dragoons in two regiments . The British had the advantage in the first encounter , and followed headlong in pursuit through a defile , beyond which they found the French reserve drawn up . Their own reserve had joined in the pursuit and lost its formation . The brigade panicked , was pursued by the French for several miles , and lost more than 100 prisoners . Slade rode with the leading squadrons , instead of attending to the supports , and Wellington and others blamed him . Wellington was furious ; he wrote : " I have never been more annoyed than by Slade ' s affair . Our officers of cavalry have acquired a trick of galloping at every thing . They never consider the situation , never think of manouevring before an enemy , and never keep back or provide for a reserve . " If ' Black Jack ' was not held in very high regard by his commander - in - chief , some of his subordinates were equally damning ; one officer wrote : " As a leader of cavalry he was deplorable . He was a byword for inefficiency throughout the army . " He was " generally regarded as incompetent " Major - General John Slade , was also known as ' God - damn - you - Jack ' , a commander of breath - taking stupidity . Later career and honours . In May 1813 , Slade ' s brigade was transferred to Henry Fane , and he went home , and was employed for a year in Ireland . The official reason for Slade losing his command was that Major General Henry Clinton had been given the local rank of lieutenant general , and John Slade was senior to him . In reality , this seems to have been a useful method by which Wellington divested himself of a general who he had become convinced was less than competent . Slade received an Army Gold Medal and one clasp for Corunna and Fuentes d ' Oñoro . He had been promoted to major general on 25 October 1809 , became a lieutenant general on 4 June 1814 , and a general on 10 January 1837 . In 1831 , he was given the colonelcy of the 5th Dragoon Guards ; on 30 September 1831 he was made a baronet , and in 1835 he was appointed a GCH . He was honoured three times with the thanks of Parliament . He died on 13 August 1859 at his home , Montys Court , and was buried at Norton Fitzwarren , near Taunton , Somerset , ' the oldest living member of the army save one ' . Family . He married , first on 20 September 1792 , Anna Eliza Dawson ( d . 24 December 1819 ) , and second on 17 June 1822 , Matilda Ellen Dawson ( d . 12 September 1868 ) . He had 11 sons and 4 daughters . He was succeeded in the baronetcy by his third son , Sir Frederic Slade , 2nd Baronet ( 1801 – 63 ) , queen ' s counsel and bencher of the Middle Temple . Admiral Sir Adolphus Slade ( 1804 – 77 ) was his fifth son . Other notable descendants include : In fiction . He features as a notoriously bad general in Allan Mallinson ' s earlier novels in the Matthew Hervey series .