I now advanced close to the work with the foreign riflemen, supported by the four companies of the 89th, when a brisk fire commenced on both sides; ours being confined to musquetry, while the enemy had the advantage of firing grape from their artillery, by which Major Grant of the 89th was mortally wounded, while receiving my directions to take possession of a small ridge of hills, which extending to the beach would have afforded cover to the regiment. I felt severely the loss of this worthy officer, who after serving the best part of his life in the 86th regiment in the vast Indies, had returned in hopes of spending the remainder of his days in his native country; but finding it still required his service, he disdained to remain in idleness. He just lived to be landed at Gibraltar, where he was buried with all military honours; the whole garrison attending. the funeral, and paying the last melancholy tribute of respect to his remains.

The fire from the castle continued on the gunboats, of which one was sunk, and several persons killed and wounded in the others; the troops, however, drawing a considerable part of the enemy’s attention (which indeed was my motive for advancing so close), the boats were at last enabled to take their stations.

The castle I found to be infinitely stronger than it had been represented, consisting of a large square fort, situated on a hillock, of which it occupies the entire summit. Circumstanced as we were, and having information of a large body of the enemy being on its march towards us, it would have been decidedly the most advisable plan, to have attempted an escalade, had there been any tolerable hopes of success; but, after a mature consideration of the subject, I was obliged to relinquish this idea, not only from its apparent impracticability, but also from the certain great loss of men that must have attended even its success, and which would have rendered me incapable of defending the conquest, or of any further operations.

Having succeeded in silencing the guns of the castle for a short time, I withdrew  part of the troops that were too much exposed, and at the same time directed the Spanish regiment to occupy a good position on the summit of a rough commanding hill, with a difficult ravine in front, which, in the opinion of Captain Harding of the engineers and myself, was a sufficient protection from a sudden attack. The Spanish Colonel, however, now started an unexpected difficulty, namely that it was Sunday and that it was not their custom to fight on the Sabbath.*  [* The same occurrence took place at Talavera.]  I found also that there was much discontent amongst the men of this regiment, from the want of a clergyman to perform divine service. This circumstance I could only lament, and would have cheerfully offered to officiate, had I thought myself equal to the task. Here I must observe, that during the considerable period that I have commanded either a regiment or detachment in His Majesty’s service, I have always been extremely particular in enforcing a due observance of the Sabbath, not only from religious motives, but also because I have found it gradually create an orderly and proper deportrhent in the soldiers, which prevents the necessity of frequent punishment. On the present occasion I was, however, obliged to leave the church to pray for our success; and this I did with no small degree of confidence, when I reflected that the contest we were engaged in, was for the preservation of order, religion and liberty to a whole nation, against the unprovoked attacks of a people, whose constant aim and end, for the last twenty years, had been to complete their overthrow.

The vicinity of Mijas, which is but five English miles from, and in eight of Fiangerolla, making it necessary to endeavour to cut off the communication between them so, as to prevent assistance being sent from the former to the latter, I therefore prevailed on the Spanish commandant to detach four  companies of his regiment, together with one hundred Germans, to execute this service, by occupying the angle where two roads or pathways meet, about half a mile from Mijas, and by which the enemy must pass, there being no other road, and the rocks on each side inaccessible. Captain Mullins, my Brigade Major, volunteered conducting this service, and though I gave him positive orders to act only on the defensive, the importunities of the Spaniards led him to exceed  these orders and to make an attack on town, where, he met a most vigorous and unexpected resistance, that obliged him to fill back rapidly on the main body of the troops.

Mijus is a small town, containing about one thousand inhabitants, and the approach to it is so difficult that a very small force may defend it against a very large one. It is situated on the declivity of a rocky hill, the side of which, facing Fiangerolla, is inaccessible, except by a narrow and winding pathway, skirted on one side by a deep rocky ravine. A river runs at the foot of the hill, which divides into two branches, and at the point of separation is crossed by an inconvenient bridge.

The castle of Fiangerolla commanding every point of the beach where boats could put on shore, the landing of the artillery was obliged to be postponed till night, when it was accomplished in a thunder storm, accompanied by heavy rain, which continued to pour down the whole night, and increased every rivulet to the magnitude of a river. Neither difficulty nor danger could however depress the persevering ardour of the soldiers and sailors, who before day broke had compleated a battery of two twelve-pounders and a howitzer, at the distance of three hundred and fifty yards from the castle, and on the summit of a rocky hill, the ascent to which is difficult even to an unincumbered individual. Another battery was also compleated on the beach with one thirty-two pound carronade. The whole of the detachment suffered severely during this dreadful night, neither officers or men having shelter or rest; those only who have been accustomed to tropical rains can form an adequate idea of the torrents that poured down.

October 15. A little before daylight the advanced piquets were called in; and as soon as we could see each other, a heavy fire commenced on each side. A shell from our battery bursting killed most of the men at one of the enemy’s guns, and silenced it for some time; our shot also destroyed part of the parapet of the castle, and left the people much exposed to our musquetry, which evidently did great execution. The walls were, however, so solid, that our small artillery could make but little impression on them; and, indeed, it would have required twenty-four pounders to make a practicable breach; nevertheless, from the supposed smallness of the garrison, as at first represented, I hoped that our shells and musquetry alone would soon oblige it to surrender, unless it received very speedy reinforcements. I was therefore greatly mortified at learning that these reinforcements had been received previous to our arrival, and as I had therefore every reason to expect that a sortie would be made, my first object was to place the troops so as to meet it with the greatest possible advantage. At the same time I received information that General Sebastiani was marching from Malaga with a large force, and though again contradicted, this intelligence was soon positively confirmed.

Lieutenant-Colonel Basset, formerly of the 5th regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Warrington, and one or two other officers joined us from the Sierras, where they had been employed in an attempt to organize the peasants, the plan of which had been suggested to the British Government by the Duke of Infantado; and its advantages would in all probability have been extremely great, had proper attention been paid to the selection of the officers.

An officer entrusted with a service of this delicate nature, should not only possess an enterprising and active disposition, a knowledge of mankind, and a perfect acquaintance with the language of the country, but his circumstances should also be such as to make him totally dependant on his talents and exertions for advancement. Such persons would have been invaluable in Spain, and many such might doubtless have been found in London, languishing in involuntary idleness, who would have been happy to accept such an employment, and by whose exertions the peasantry might have been better organized, and roused to a more efficient resistance, which must have ultimately succeeded in delivering their country from its lawless and cruel invaders. The expulsion of the Moors affords the Spaniards a grand example of what their nation is capable of performing; and this example is deeply impressed on the minds of all classes. In that contest, as well as in the present, the Spaniards were at first defeated; but the loss of a battle served only to inspire fresh energy, while it taught them to correct their military faults, and the most perfect success crowned their perseverance. I cannot quit this subject, which perhaps has led me into too long a digression, without doing justice to Captain Miller of the 95th regiment, who being perfectly acquainted with the Spanish language, had been of the utmost service in uniting the peasantry, and had acquired an extended knowledge of the country in general, and of the strong passes of the mountains in particular. The reports of this officer, which I have had different opportunities of seeing, appeared to be very judicious.

Another circumstance, in some measure connected with the above observation, should not be passed over, namely, the large sums advanced by England for the Spanish cause, and over the expenditure of which no efficient control has been hitherto established, whence it is at least possible they may not be always applied to the intended purposes. When I was at Gibraltar a person named Moretti resided there, who assumed the title of General, and who was entrusted with the distribution of large sums, in which employment he contrived to enrich himself, until arousing the jealousy or suspicion of the Spanish government, he was recalled to Cadiz, to undergo an enquiry, of the result of which I am ignorant. This soidisant General I had formerly seen at Palermo, where he was one of the principal performers in the orchestra of the opera, and an excellent musician. I must do him the justice to say that he appeared to be active and intelligent in his new employment, and his musical talents rendered him peculiarly agreeable to the Spanish ladies, who are great admirers of that art. Here I must claim a general indulgence for the digressions I may be occasionally led into in the course of this narrative, which though not always immediately connected with the main subject, I trust will tend to enliven the otherwise dry recital of military operations.

On the certain confirmation of the intelligence that Sebastiani was marching against us with a large force, I considered the best means of opposing a successful resistance with my small and badly composed detachment. I therefore, in company with Captain Harding, minutely examined the ground; in doing which we were several times exposed to a heavy fire of musquetry from the castle. I found that the position we occupied was well suited for operations against the latter, but not so for defence against such a superior force as I had reason to expect, and which my intelligence stated to be four thousand seven hundred infantry, eight hundred cavalry, and sixteen pieces of artillery, commanded by General Sebastiani in person; while my whole force now amounted only to fourteen hundred infantry, and three pieces of artillery. The reason already assigned for not landing the artillery by daylight, namely, the exposure of the beach to the guns of the castle, operated in like manner to prevent its re-embarkation; and being determined not to abandon it, nothing was left but to make preparations for receiving the enemy in the best manner possible; for this purpose I intended to have made some alterations in our position by occupying a ruined tower, capable of containing about fifty men, having a ridge of hills extending on its right and the sea close behind it; time was not however allowed me to accomplish this intention.

At this moment His Majesty’s ship Rodney, with a Spanish line of battle ship, appeared off the coast, and I learnt that they had on board the 82d regiment, one thousand strong, which had been sent from Gibraltar to reinforce me; my anxiety to receive them was of course very great, and boats were immediately sent off to assist in landing them.

My principal fear was that the enemy’s cavalry would charge on the beach and gain our rear; to prevent which, if possible, I went with Captain Hall in a gunboat, with the intention of placing two boats on each flank so as to rake the beach; these boats were so close to the shore that I could have gone and returned in five minutes. During this arrangement, a desperate sortie was made from the castle by about six hundred and fifty infantry and sixty cavalry, and entirely directed to the left, where the Spanish and other foreign troops were posted, who fled with scarce any resistance, and abandoned the artillery to the enemy. At this moment I observed the boats with the troops had pushed off from the ships, and were fast approaching the shore, which gave we hopes of being still able to retrieve the day, both from the strength of our position, and from my confidence in the 82d regiment; I therefore immediately formed the 89th, and, though consisting of only two hundred and eighty men, retook the guns by the bayonet. In advancing to the charge my horse was wounded, and soon after killed by a second shot, so that I was obliged to charge on foot. After a short but very severe contest, the enemy wheeled and fled; at the same moment a strong body came running across us in front, drest precisely similar to the Spanish troops, and a cry of “they are Spaniards!” at the same time took place. I therefore ceased firing for a few minutes, both in order to form the troops more regularly, and to ascertain whether this body was really Spaniards or French, as well as to economize the ammunition which began to fall short. Unfortunately I was not supported by the artillery, now again in our possession, and the enemy had only blown up a part of the ammunition, leaving several loose rounds of grape in the battery, which, had they been employed, must have done great execution. Being dismounted I could not go to the left sufficiently quick to ascertain whether the approaching body were French or Spaniards: I soon, however, observed a column close in from the left, on whose caps I perceived the number 4 with an eagle, and which proved to be the quatrième Polonois. The troops with me, after firing a few rounds, charged this column, and a very severe conflict ensued, which unfortunately ended in my being made prisoner, having but nine men remaining of those that advanced with me.

Those only who have suffered a similar fate can form any idea of my sensations at being thus obliged to surrender to a ferocious banditti, who loaded me with every vile epithet, but in whose outrageous violence I in great measure found my personal safety, for they crowded so thick on me that they had not room to give force to their blows. They tore my cloaths, rifled my pockets, and attempted to pull off my epaulets, and the resistance I made to this last indignity procured me several blows from the butt ends of their muskets, that covered me with contusions. I was indeed probably indebted for my life to a Lieutenant Petit, of the Polish regiment, who opportunely came up on horseback; he was the only French officer in the corps, and his humane and gentlemanly conduct did honour to his country.