On the 5th of January 1809, the troops took up a position at Lugo, where they remained bivouacked in order of battle until the 9th of that month, when they marched in the night, and arrived at Corunna on the 11th of January. The British army, having accomplished one of the most celebrated retreats recorded in modern history, repulsing the pursuing enemy in all his attacks, and having traversed two hundred and fifty miles of mountainous country under very disheartening circumstances, accompanied by severe privation, was not destined to embark for England without a battle.

Marshal Soult, Duke of Dalmatia, having taken up a position above the town of Corunna, made arrangements for attacking the British army as soon as the troops should commence their embarkation. The sick men, the women, and baggage having been conveyed on board ship, preparations were made for embarking the troops on the 16th of January 1809. The French instantly descended from the heights, and advanced, about two o’clock, to attack the British position in front of Corunna; a sanguinary action ensued, and before dark the French were defeated in all their attacks. Lieut.-General Sir John Moore was killed, and the battle was scarcely ended, when, wrapped in a military cloak, his remains were interred in the citadel of Corunna, over which Marshal Soult, with the chivalrous feeling of a true soldier, erected a monument.

This victory enabled the British troops to be embarked without further molestation. In this battle the first battalion of the Thirty-sixth was posted on the left of the British line.

During the retreat to Corunna, and its services there, the battalion had Lieutenant John White wounded, and one serjeant and two rank and file killed; one serjeant, three drummers, and one hundred and fifty-three rank and file, were taken prisoners.

In commemoration of this battle, and of the conduct of the battalion during the expedition, the Thirty-sixth, in common with the army employed under Lieut.-General Sir John Moore, received the Royal authority to bear the word “Corunna” on the regimental colour and appointments.[18]

The army also received the thanks of both Houses of Parliament “for its distinguished discipline, firmness, and valour in the battle of Corunna.”

On the 17th of January the battalion embarked at Corunna for England; portions landed at Plymouth, Portsmouth, and Deal, but the several divisions were assembled at Battle, in Sussex, during the month of February.

Immense preparations had been made by the British Government to fit out the most formidable armament that had for a long time proceeded from England. The troops amounted to forty thousand men, commanded by Lieut.-General the Earl of Chatham; the naval portion consisted of thirty-nine ships of the line, thirty-six frigates, and numerous gun-boats and bomb-vessels, and other small craft, under Admiral Sir Richard Strachan. The object of the expedition was to obtain possession of the islands at the mouth of the Scheldt, and to destroy the French ships in that river, with the docks and arsenals at Antwerp. The first battalion of the Thirty-sixth regiment received orders to prepare itself for this service, and on the 16th of July embarked at Portsmouth for Walcheren, under the command of Colonel Burne. The expedition sailed from the Downs on the 28th of July, and on the morning of the 1st of August the Thirty-sixth and other corps were landed, and on the same day the troops advanced to the investment of Flushing, which operation was warmly contested by the enemy.

By the 13th of August, the preparations for the attack on the town were completed, and on the night of the 14th one of the enemy’s batteries, advanced upon the sea dyke in front of Lieut.-General Alexander Mackenzie Fraser’s position, was most gallantly carried at the point of the bayonet by detachments from the Thirty-sixth, Seventy-first, and the light battalions of the King’s German legion, under Lieut.-Colonel Denis Pack, of the Seventy-first, although opposed to great superiority of numbers; the troops took forty prisoners, and killed and wounded a great many of the enemy. Flushing capitulated on the 15th of August; the garrison becoming prisoners of war.

From the 8th to the 15th of August the Thirty-sixth had three rank and file killed; Major Alexander Mackenzie was dangerously wounded; two serjeants and seven rank and file were wounded.

An epidemic disease of a fatal character broke out among the troops, and the following officers and men of the Thirty-sixth regiment died of fever:—Captains Waddle, C. Douglas, and Alexander Barbor, Lieutenant McDermott, Assistant-Surgeon James McFarlane, fourteen serjeants, two drummers, and two hundred rank and file.

On the 10th of December 1809 the first battalion embarked for England, and arrived at Woolwich on the 22d of that month; it subsequently returned to Battle in Sussex.

During the year 1810 the first battalion was stationed at Battle.

The second battalion was moved from Worcester to Kidderminster in the spring, and in the summer to Cirencester, and subsequently to Horsham.

The first battalion occupied the barracks at Battle until January 1811, on the 28th of which month it embarked at Portsmouth under the command of Lieut.-Colonel the Honorable Basil Cochrane on board His Majesty’s ship “Victory,” and landed at Lisbon on the 5th of March. The battalion immediately joined in the pursuit of Marshal Massena from Santarem, and was in position at the expulsion of the enemy from Guarda on the 29th of March.

The battalion was next employed in the blockade of Almeida, and Marshal Massena, having concentrated his forces, crossed the Agueda on the 2d of May for the purpose of relieving the place. This movement led to the actions at Fuentes d’Onor on the 3d and 5th of May. In the battle of the 5th the battalion was in position, but was not actively engaged. The French were defeated, after a prolonged contest, and Marshal Massena left Almeida to its fate. The place was evacuated by General Brennier at midnight of the 10th of May, when the enemy blew up the works, and the greater part of the garrison succeeded in effecting its escape during the night.

On the 11th of May, when the garrison of Almeida effected its escape through the corps on duty, Lieut.-Colonel the Honorable Basil Cochrane, with about half of the first battalion of the Thirty-sixth regiment, had the good fortune to come up with the French at the bridge of Barba del Puerco; and, in conjunction with the Grenadier company of the Fourth foot under Captain Thomas Burke, caused them considerable loss. Many were killed and wounded, and three hundred were taken prisoners, but the rest escaped.

The remainder of the battalion took another road in the pursuit, under the orders of Brigadier-General Robert Burne, Lieut.-Colonel of the Thirty-sixth, and intercepted many stragglers, whom they made prisoners.

The casualties under Lieut.-Colonel the Honorable Basil Cochrane were two killed;—Lieutenant Charles Moody and eight rank and file were taken prisoners.

Early in June 1811 the battalion commenced its march for the south of Portugal, and continued at the camp of Arronches until the 18th of July, when it again returned to the north, and was in cantonments at Barquilla, in Spain, during August and September; on the 25th of September it was in position at the affair of Especha, when the enemy advanced to relieve Ciudad Rodrigo, which was blockaded by the Allied army. The battalion was likewise in position at the subsequent affair near Ronda on the 27th of September.

On the 30th of September the British army went into cantonments, the Thirty-sixth occupying the village of Pinziu. There Lieut.-Colonel the Honorable Basil Cochrane found his health so much on the decline that he was compelled to apply for leave to return to England; and on the 13th of October he quitted the corps for that purpose, the command of which then devolved on Major William Cross.

On the 24th of November the battalion marched to Gallegos, in Spain, with the view of intercepting a convoy of provisions intended for the garrison of Ciudad Rodrigo, but the incessant rain had so flooded the rivers that it was found impossible to cross at the points intended, which circumstance enabled the convoy to reach its destination.

The battalion commenced its march to new cantonments at Mongualda on the 27th of November, which it reached on the 3d of December.

On the 14th of January 1812 the battalion was moved from Mongualda, by forced marches, to assist in the siege of Ciudad Rodrigo, which, however, was taken on the night of the 19th of January by the troops under Viscount Wellington, just as the Thirty-sixth were on the point of leaving Nava d’Aver, within ten miles of the scene of operations; the battalion remained at Nava d’Aver until Ciudad Rodrigo was secured against a coup de main, and then marched into cantonments at Meda, which it reached on the 3d of February.

Major-General Henry Clinton arrived and assumed the command of the sixth division on the 11th of February. On the 20th of that month the battalion marched for the south of Portugal, reached Estremos on the 6th of March, and remained there until the 14th, on which day it proceeded to Borba, and on the 15th to the camp at Elvas, where the army was assembled. On the following day it marched to aid in investing Badajoz, and from thence proceeded with the covering army, under Lieut.-General Sir Thomas Graham (afterwards Lord Lynedoch), which, after the affairs of Usagré, Llerena, Berlonga, and Asuaga, effected the expulsion of the enemy from Spanish Estremadura, and then returned to support the attack on Badajoz. The battalion reached Albuhera on the 6th of April, on the night of which Badajoz was stormed and carried.

The enemy being thus thwarted in all his views against the south, in which the principal part of the British troops was assembled, made a sudden invasion of the north of Portugal, and advanced as far as Castello Branco. The sixth division was in consequence moved with the utmost rapidity in that direction, but on its approach the enemy retired, and the division again returned to the south, the Thirty-sixth taking up cantonments at Castello de Vide on the 30th of April.

On the 5th May 1812, Lieut.-Colonel Lewis Davies arrived, and assumed the command of the Thirty-sixth; towards the end of the month Major William Cross, who had been in very bad health for several weeks, proceeded to join the second battalion in England.

The battalion marched to Azumar on the 8th of May, and on the 13th to Arronches, from which it moved towards the end of the month to Puebla, in Spain, then to Badajoz, where it halted five days, thence to Castello de Vide for two days, from which it marched through Castello Branco in the direction of Salamanca, which it reached on the 17th of June, and operations were then immediately commenced against the Forts at Salamanca by the light companies of the division under Colonel Samuel Venables Hinde, of the Thirty-second regiment. They were attacked without success on the 23d, and carried on the 27th of June by a party under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Davies, of the Thirty-sixth, with a loss to the battalion of Lieutenant George Mackenzie and eleven rank and file killed, and Captain Paul Minchin Hobart and twenty-five rank and file wounded. Captain Hobart, who was promoted to the brevet rank of Major on the 23d of July 1812, died of his wounds.

The battalion then occupied different villages in the neighbourhood, and on the 22d of July it took a considerable share in the battle of Salamanca. The change of the allied position and various manœuvres occupied the day without any close engagement, excepting on the left for the possession of the Arapiles; the battle of Salamanca did not commence in earnest until after three o’clock, when the French left, having been very much extended by the advance of the division of General Thomières, with the light cavalry and fifty pieces of artillery, along a range of heights parallel with the British line, to cut off the right of the allies from the Ciudad Rodrigo road, the third division was ordered to advance in four columns, supported by cavalry to turn the French left. The evolutions of this great battle are too varied to be clearly described with brevity. The sixth division under Major-General Clinton, of which the Thirty-sixth formed part, was placed at first in reserve, but at a critical period in the action it was ordered up to relieve the fourth division, and the battle was soon restored to its former success.

The enemy’s right, reinforced by the troops which had fled from his left, and by those which had by this time retired from the Arapiles, still continued to resist; and while other corps were directed to turn the right, the sixth division, supported by the third and fifth, attacked the front. It was dark before this point was carried by the sixth division, and the enemy then fled through the woods towards the Tormes.

Lieut.-General Sir William Napier, in his History of the Peninsular War, thus sums up the account of this victory:—

The Thirty-sixth had Captains William Tulloh and Alexander Middleton, Lieutenants Arthur Parker and Richard Barton, one serjeant, and fifteen rank and file killed. Brevet-Major John Fox, Lieutenants Walter Ewart, and David Price, Ensigns Richard James Bourchier, William Wainwright, with four serjeants and seventy rank and file, were wounded. Lieutenant Ewart subsequently died of his wounds.

Lieut.-Colonel Davies obtained the medal issued for the victory gained at Salamanca; and the Thirty-sixth subsequently received the Royal Authority to bear the word “Salamanca” on the regimental colour and appointments, in commemoration of the gallantry displayed in that battle.

On the 23d of July the battalion was employed in pursuit of the enemy by the route of Alba de Tormes, and in August went into cantonments at Cuellar; towards the end of that month it marched again, and encamped before Burgos, which the Marquis of Wellington (that title having been conferred upon him after the victory at Salamanca) ordered should be forthwith invested.

Major Molyneux Smith, of the Thirty-sixth, died on the 21st of August 1812, and Brevet-Major John Fox was appointed his successor on the 1st of October following. The battalion took an active share in all the operations against Burgos, from which the British army retired on the 21st of October. The Thirty-sixth, during the siege, had seven rank and file killed and eleven wounded.

After this most harassing retreat, rendered so by the severity of the weather and the dreadful state of the roads, as well as by a numerous and active-pursuing enemy, the battalion, early in December, reached Falgosa de Medelina, in Portugal, where it halted for some weeks.

In February 1813 the battalion marched from Falgosa de Medelina to Toraish, where it remained until May. There Lieut.-Colonel Davies, in consequence of ill-health, left the corps for England, when the command devolved on Brevet Lieut.-Colonel John Ward.

On the 14th of May the allied army again advanced, crossed the Douro on the 19th, and halted on the 20th at Toro de Monte Corva; on the 24th reached Malhadus, and halted until the 27th, and on the 29th entered Spain by crossing the Corsa, near Murga, where the troops, of which the Thirty-sixth formed part, halted until the 31st. On the 1st of June they crossed the Esla by a pontoon bridge, and continued the march until the 19th, when they halted at Madina to observe General Clausel’s corps, and cover the British stores and ammunition.

The battalion reached Vittoria on the 22d of June, the day following the victory gained there by the Marquis of Wellington, and halted at that place during the 23d and 24th, still observing General Clausel. On the 26th the battalion marched to Mondragoa, and afterwards retrograded to Montinca, whence Clausel was pursued to the bridge of Lagosa, where the battalion arrived on the 30th of June; and, marching again on the 1st of July, it encamped near Pampeluna on the 5th of that month.

There the battalion halted until the 13th of July, and on the following day it marched to Lanz, where it remained until the 22d; and on the 23d it crossed the Low Pyrenees to the valley of San Estevan; on the 27th the battalion re-crossed the Pyrenees to Torrossa.

On the 28th of July the battalion was in position near Pampeluna, and was warmly engaged, the light company under Captain William Campbell being detached in smart skirmishing. On the following day both armies remained quiet; but on the 30th of July the battalion was again engaged early in the morning, the light company being, as before, detached, under Captain Campbell, to expel the enemy from the village of Sorauren. About eight o’clock Major Martin Leggatt arrived, and assumed the command, when Brevet Lieut.-Colonel Ward immediately proceeded to join the light company in Sorauren. Marshal Soult was however foiled, and about two o’clock in the afternoon the enemy was in general retreat, being pursued by the whole army.

In approbation of the conduct of Major Leggatt, Brevet Lieut.-Colonel Ward and Captain Campbell on the three last-mentioned days, His Royal Highness the Prince Regent, in the name and behalf of His Majesty, was graciously pleased to present each of them with a medal for the battles of the Pyrenees, and to promote Captain Campbell to the brevet rank of Major.

The Thirty-sixth subsequently received the Royal Authority to bear on the regimental colour and appointments the word “Pyrenees,” in commemoration of the services of the first battalion in the actions which occurred there, and which have been designated the “Battles of the Pyrenees.”

On the 1st of August the battalion reached Bargetta, and halted there until the 3d; on the following day it pursued the enemy to the valley of Alduides; and on the 5th and 6th the battalion was in position;—on the 7th it marched and encamped in the valley near Maya, and on the 8th moved to the camp at the Pass of Maya, where the battalion remained until the 9th of September.

Major William Cross arrived at the camp of Maya on the 10th of September, and resumed the command of the battalion.

The battalion was present in the affair of Urdax on the 7th of October, and had forty-six rank and file killed and wounded.

The British army was put in motion at an early hour in the morning of the 10th of November, and advanced to attack the enemy in his fortified position on the Nivelle. In the battle which ensued, it was the proud lot of the sixth division, of which the Thirty-sixth formed part, to charge and carry the enemy’s breastwork and principal redoubt on the heights of Ainhoa, with the loss of one drummer and five rank and file killed.

The Marquis of Wellington, in his despatch of the 13th of November, thus alluded to the conduct of the Thirty-sixth on this occasion:—

In this battle the Thirty-sixth had Captains Robert Blakeney and William Gillam, Lieutenants Thomas L’Estrange and William Tunstall, Ensigns James McCabe and John Skerry, one serjeant and fifty-eight rank and file, wounded.

Major Cross, for his services on this day, was promoted to the brevet rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, and was with Brevet-Major Campbell honoured with the medal for the battle of the Nivelle.

The Thirty-sixth subsequently received the Royal Authority to bear the word “Nivelle” on the regimental colour and appointments, in commemoration of the gallantry of the first battalion in that battle.

After this victory the battalion was in cantonments at Usteritz, on the river Nive, observing the enemy,—who was in force on the opposite side,—until the 9th of December, when the passage of the river was forced, and the battle of the Nive ensued. In the passage of the Nive the Thirty-sixth had only three rank and file wounded.

The enemy having failed in all his attacks, with his whole force, on the British left, withdrew into his entrenchments on the night of the 12th of December, and passed a large force through Bayonne, with which, on the morning of the 13th, he made a most desperate attack on the troops under Lieut.-General Sir Rowland Hill; the Marquis of Wellington, in expectation of this attack, had given orders that the Lieut.-General should be reinforced with the sixth division, which crossed the Nive at daylight on that morning. The Thirty-sixth were accordingly in position at Bidart, but Lieut.-General Sir Rowland Hill defeated the enemy with the troops under his own immediate command on the 13th of December, with immense loss, before the arrival of the reinforcement, although the march of the sixth division afforded him great facility in making his movements.

In commemoration of the operations connected with the passage of the river Nive, the Thirty-sixth subsequently received the Royal Authority to bear the word “Nive” on the regimental colour and appointments.

On the 14th of December the Thirty-sixth occupied cantonments at Ville Franque, and commenced the severe duty of the blockade of Bayonne.

The battalion was employed on this duty until the 21st of February 1814, on which day the army advanced, the Thirty-sixth being selected by Lieut.-General Sir Henry Clinton, K.B., for the important duty of protecting the artillery of the division from an apprehended attack upon it by the enemy’s garrison of St. Jean Pied de Port, which the dreadful state of the roads obliged it nearly to pass. This obstacle fortunately surmounted, by forced marches the Thirty-sixth rejoined the army on the 26th of February, and shared in the battle of Orthes on the following day.

On the day previous to the battle the third division forded the river Gave de Pau, and a pontoon bridge was afterwards laid at Bereaux, by which the fourth and sixth divisions crossed on the morning of the 27th, at which time the third division was already posted with skirmishers thrown out close upon the left centre of the French position. The sixth division, of which the Thirty-sixth formed part, was placed on the right between the third division and the river, and the light division on its left in rear as a reserve. During the whole morning there had been occasional skirmishing by the third division, but the real attack commenced at nine o’clock by the third and sixth divisions on the French left centre, and the fourth and seventh divisions on their right, which last was intended to be the principal point of attack; but it having been found, after three hours’ hard fighting, that the enemy was there too strongly posted, the Marquis of Wellington ordered an advance of the third and sixth divisions, with the Fifty-second regiment, from the centre upon the left centre of the French position, which they carried, and thus secured the victory; while Lieut.-General Sir Rowland Hill, with the second division, had crossed the river above Orthes, and nearly cut off the only line of retreat open to the enemy, who then retired from the field, but without confusion, and constantly resisting the advance. The allies followed, keeping up an incessant fire and cannonade, but lost many men, particularly of the third division, which was the most strongly opposed; this continued until the French nearly reached the Luy de Bearn river, when their retreat became a flight, and they effected their escape by the fords and one bridge, which they destroyed, having lost four thousand men and six guns.

In commemoration of this victory, the Thirty-sixth subsequently received the Royal Authority to bear the word “Orthes” on the regimental colour and appointments.

The battalion shared in the affairs of Vic Bigorre and Tarbes on the 19th and 20th of March. The movement of the sixth division under Lieut.-General Sir Henry Clinton is stated by the Marquis of Wellington, in his despatch, to have been very ably made, and it was completely successful.

During the night Marshal Soult retreated towards Toulouse, followed on the 21st of March by the allies, who continued their advance, until on the 26th they arrived in presence of the French army. The town of Toulouse is surrounded on three sides by the Canal of Languedoc and the Garonne; on the left of that river, the suburb, which the enemy had fortified with strong field-works in front of the ancient wall, formed a good tête-de-pont. The city itself was only accessible from the south, and its strong though old-fashioned walls had been rendered more defensible by redoubts, and by an exterior line of entrenchments on a strong and rugged range of heights, about two miles in length beyond the canal. On the 28th the enemy’s troops were driven within the suburb of St. Cyprien, and several attempts were made to attack them by crossing the Garonne above Toulouse. Operations were, however, impeded by the floods and rapidity of the river, until the 3d of April, when the third, fourth, and sixth divisions, with three brigades of cavalry, under Marshal Beresford, passed over by a pontoon bridge fifteen miles below Toulouse; but the crossing of the remainder of the army was again impeded by the rising of the river, which caused the removal of the bridges, until the 8th, when the Marquis of Wellington crossed, and advanced within five miles of Toulouse; Lieut.-General Sir Rowland Hill, with two divisions, remaining on the left bank.

In the battle of Toulouse, which began about six o’clock in the morning of the 10th of April, it was the good fortune of the Thirty-sixth to commence the attack of the sixth division. The Marquis of Wellington’s plan of attack was for Marshal Sir William Beresford, who was on the right of the Ers with the fourth and sixth divisions, to cross that river at the bridge of Croix d’Orade, to gain possession of Montblanc, and to march up to the left of the Ers to turn the enemy’s right, while Lieut.-General Don Manuel Freyre, with the Spanish corps under his command, supported by the British cavalry, attacked the front.

Marshal Sir William Beresford crossed the Ers, formed his corps in three columns of lines in the village of Croix d’Orade, and immediately carried Montblanc. He then moved up the Ers in the same order, over most difficult ground, in a direction parallel to the enemy’s fortified position, and as soon as he reached the point at which he turned it, he formed his lines, and moved to the attack. The gallant efforts of Lieut.-General Don Manuel Freyre did not meet with success, but they were highly applauded by the Marquis of Wellington. Meanwhile Marshal Sir William Beresford, with the fourth division under the command of Lieut.-General Sir Lowry Cole, and the sixth division under Lieut.-General Sir Henry Clinton, attacked and carried the heights on the enemy’s right, and the redoubt which covered and protected that flank; and he lodged those troops on the same heights with the enemy, who were, however, still in possession of four redoubts, and of the entrenchments and fortified houses.

The badness of the roads had induced the Marshal to leave his artillery in the village of Montblanc; some time elapsed before it could be brought up, and before Lieut.-General Don Manuel Freyre’s corps could be re-formed and led again to the attack. As soon as this was effected, the Marshal continued his movement along the ridge, and earned, with Major-General Denis Pack’s brigade of the sixth division, the two principal redoubts and fortified houses in the enemy’s centre. The enemy made a desperate effort from the canal to regain these redoubts, but they were repulsed with considerable loss; and the sixth division continuing its movement along the ridge of the height, and the Spanish troops continuing a corresponding movement upon the front, the French were driven from the two redoubts and entrenchments on the left, and the whole range of heights were gained by the British.

The Marquis of Wellington, in his despatch, added—

By this last paragraph it is shown, that the sixth division, of which the first battalion of the Thirty-sixth regiment had for some time formed a part, bore the brunt of this hard-fought, but, as it proved unnecessary, battle.

The killed and wounded of the Thirty-sixth were one hundred and fifty-three, of all ranks, out of two hundred and fifty; namely, Ensign James Cromie, three serjeants and thirty-five rank and file killed, Brevet Lieut.-Colonel William Cross, Brevet Major William Campbell, Lieutenants James Prendergast, Thomas L’Estrange, Peter Joseph Bone, William Henry Robertson, and Edward Lewis, Ensigns Thomas M. Taylor, and James McCabe, eight serjeants, and ninety-seven rank and file wounded.

Brevet Lieut.-Colonel Cross was so severely wounded as to oblige him to be carried off the field, and the command of the battalion devolved upon Major Martin Leggatt.

In approbation of the services of Lieut.-Colonel Cross at the battles of the Nivelle, Nive, Orthes, and Toulouse, His Royal Highness the Prince Regent, in the name and behalf of His Majesty, was graciously pleased to confer upon that officer a cross, and to nominate him a Companion of the Most Honourable Military Order of the Bath; His Royal Highness was likewise pleased to bestow on Major Leggatt a medal for the battle of Toulouse.

The Thirty-sixth subsequently received the Royal Authority to bear the word “Toulouse” on the regimental colour and appointments, in commemoration of the distinguished gallantry of the first battalion in that battle; also the word “Peninsula” in testimony of its services in Spain and Portugal.

During the night of the 11th of April the French troops evacuated Toulouse, and a white flag was hoisted. On the following day the Marquis of Wellington entered the city, amidst the acclamations of the inhabitants. In the course of the afternoon of the 12th of April intelligence was received of the abdication of Napoleon, and had not the express been delayed on the journey by the French police, the sacrifice of many valuable lives would have been prevented.

A disbelief in the truth of this intelligence occasioned much unnecessary bloodshed at Bayonne, the garrison of which made a desperate sortie on the 14th of April, and Lieut.-General Sir John Hope (afterwards Earl of Hopetoun) was taken prisoner, Major-General Andrew Hay was killed, and Major-General Stopford was wounded. This was the last action of the Peninsular war.

A Treaty of Peace was established between Great Britain and France; Louis XVIII. was restored to the throne of his ancestors; and Napoleon Bonaparte was permitted to reside at Elba, the sovereignty of that island having been conceded to him by the allied powers.

The first battalion of the Thirty-sixth regiment embarked at Pouillac on the 22d of June 1814, and arrived at the Cove of Cork on the 11th of the following month, and subsequently proceeded to Kilkenny.

The second battalion of the Thirty-sixth, which had been employed on home duty during the Peninsular War, was disbanded at Plymouth on the 24th of October 1814, and the men fit for service were transferred to the first battalion:—the detachment accordingly embarked for Ireland on the 30th of October.

The tranquillity which Europe appeared to have gained by the splendid successes over the French in the Peninsula, was again to be disturbed. Napoleon, who had been accustomed to imperial sway, was naturally discontented with his small sovereignty of Elba. Besides, the correspondence kept up by him with his adherents in France gave him hopes of regaining his former power, which were, for a short time, fully realized. Napoleon Bonaparte landed at Cannes, in Provence, on the 1st of March 1815, with a small body of men, and on the 20th of that month entered Paris at the head of an army, which had joined him on the road. This could not be matter of wonder, for the officers and soldiers had won their fame under his command, and gladly welcomed their former leader, under whom they probably expected to acquire fresh honours, which might cancel the memory of the defeats sustained in the Peninsula and south of France.

Louis XVIII., unable to stem the torrent, withdrew from Paris to Ghent, and Napoleon resumed his former dignity of Emperor of the French. This assumption the allied powers determined not to acknowledge, and resolved to deprive him of his sovereignty, by again restoring the ancient dynasty.

Napoleon was finally defeated on the plains of Waterloo on the 18th of June 1815, and the allies advanced on Paris. The first battalion of the Thirty-sixth regiment embarked at Cork on the 3d of July, and landed at Ostend on the 11th of that month. The battalion marched from thence to Paris.

The Thirty-sixth regiment remained in the neighbourhood of Paris until December 1815, on the 22d of which month it embarked at Calais for England; and, landing at Dover and Ramsgate, it subsequently proceeded to Portsmouth.

During the year 1816 the regiment was stationed at Portsmouth.

Colonel the Honourable Basil Cochrane, who had been serving as Assistant-Quartermaster-General in Ireland, died on his passage from Newry to Liverpool on the 14th of May 1816. Brevet Lieut.-Colonel William Cross was appointed to succeed him as Lieut.-Colonel of the Thirty-sixth regiment on the 23d of May, and Brevet Major William Wright Swain was promoted to the vacant majority.

The word “Firm” being an old regimental acquirement, it was deemed necessary to apply to Sir George Nayler, York Herald, Inspector of Regimental Colours, for its insertion on the new colours which had been prepared, when the following reply was received:—

The regiment embarked at Portsmouth for the Mediterranean on the 29th of July 1817, and landed at Malta on the 27th of September following.

On the 4th of April 1818 General George Don was removed from the Ninety-fifth (afterwards disbanded) to the Thirty-sixth regiment, in succession to General the Honourable Henry St. John, deceased.

The head-quarters of the regiment, with six companies, embarked at Malta on the 5th of December 1820, and landed in the island of Zante on the 11th of the same month, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Cross, having left four companies at Malta under the command of Major Swain.

On the 18th of June 1821 the four companies which had remained at Malta embarked for the island of Cephalonia, where they arrived on the 22d of the same month. The head-quarters and four companies embarked at Zante on the 8th of July, and arrived at Cephalonia on the 10th of that month, when Lieut.-Colonel Cross assumed the command; two companies were left detached at Zante under the command of Brevet Major Henry Vernon.

On the 1st of November 1821 a detachment of the regiment, consisting of one captain, three subalterns, four serjeants, two drummers, and one hundred rank and file, was ordered to proceed to the island of Cerigo, under the command of Brevet Major William Campbell, on a particular service.

During the five latter months of the regiment being stationed at Cephalonia, the numbers of sick were very great; so much so, that it was deemed indispensably necessary to establish a convalescent hospital, as also forming a detachment of two subalterns, two serjeants, and eighty rank and file, principally consisting of the most weakly soldiers that could be selected, which proceeded to Fort St. George, a healthy eminence situated about five miles from Argostoli, where the head-quarters were stationed; another hospital was also established there for the reception of the sick of that detachment, under the superintendence of a medical staff officer.

The increase of disease in this island was principally attributed to the unconcentrated position of the barracks, which were small, crowded, and temporary, situated on a marsh in a valley close to the beach, together with the insalubrious atmosphere, which prevailed exceedingly during the time the regiment was stationed there. The loss of the Thirty-sixth by sickness here was sixteen in two months, which consisted principally of the stoutest young men in the regiment.

His Excellency the Commander of the Forces in the Mediterranean, Lieut.-General the Right Honorable Sir Thomas Maitland, G.C.B., having arrived at this island early in November, and perceiving the debilitated state of the corps, was pleased to direct its removal; six days previously to which the two companies under the command of Brevet Major Vernon arrived from Zante and joined the head-quarters. On the 30th of November the regiment, with the exception of the detachment at Cerigo, embarked for Corfu, where it arrived on the 4th of December, and occupied part of the barracks in the citadel, and the whole of the barracks and quarters in Fort Neuf; the head-quarters and three companies in the latter, and the remaining companies in the citadel; soon after which Lieut.-Colonel Cross, having been a considerable time in a bad state of health, obtained leave of absence; and Major Swain, through domestic calamities, being absent, the command devolved on Brevet Major Joshua Crosse. Here Lieutenant Henry O’Bré died on the 13th of December, about which time Brevet Major Vernon was appointed Commandant of Paxo, where he died.

Brevet Major Crosse was succeeded in the command by Brevet Major Campbell, on his arrival from Cerigo in the month of February 1822.

In March following Major Edmond Browne arrived from England and took the command of the regiment, he having succeeded to the majority by exchange from the half-pay with Brevet Lieut.-Colonel Leggatt in May 1821.

On the 2d June 1822 Major-General Sir Frederick Adam, K.C.B., commanding, was pleased to order the head-quarters and three companies stationed at Fort Neuf to join the remaining companies at the citadel, as well as the regimental hospital to be established there, which was productive of much comfort to the corps, together with the unremitting and unwearied attention of the medical department, as well as at their solicitation to send a portion of the men that had not quite recovered from the diseases contracted at Cephalonia, to the sick depôt formed at Malta, which was acceded to, and they accordingly embarked for that station on the 8th of August, where they arrived on the 13th of the same month. This arrangement was attended with the fortunate result of restoration to their former good health; and, upon the 27th of October following, two serjeants and forty-two rank and file arrived from Malta in His Majesty’s ship “Cambrian;” and at subsequent dates others arrived, leaving only a very few bad cases at Malta; so that afterwards it generally had the fewest sick of any regiment in the Ionian Islands, or in the Mediterranean.