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Auction: 18003 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 3

Military General Service 1793-1814, 2 clasps, Talavera, Fuentes d'Onor (A. Alexander, 24th Foot), edge nicks and light bruising, better than very fine

Alexander Alexander served at the Battle of Talavera on 27-28 July 1809 as a Private with the 2nd Battalion, 24th (2nd Warwickshire) Regiment of Foot. The British Army, now under the command of Sir Arthur Wellesley, crossed the Douro in late June and pursued Marshal Victor to Talavera, 75 miles south-west of Madrid. At midday on 28 July, massed French columns under General Sebastiani attacked the Allied centre, defended by Sherbrooke's 1st Division. Sherbrooke repulsed this attack but his men recklessly pursued the French, leaving themselves exposed. The 24th Foot, part of Mackenzie's Brigade, 3rd Division, quickly plugged the gap, covering 1st Division's withdrawal. The regiment was then exposed to the fire of thirty French guns, drawn up on the Cerro de Cascajal ridge. Their shot ignited the tinder-dry grass on which the 24th stood, causing severe casualties. The Battalion lost 352 killed and wounded, nearly half its strength.

By spring 1811, the French had withdrawn from the Lisbon area and Wellington again made preparations to enter Spain. As he besieged Almeida on the Spanish frontier, a large French army under Marshal Masséna attempted to relieve the garrison. Wellington confronted Masséna at the town of Fuentes d'Onor (clasp) on 5 May. Part of Lieutenant-General Spencer's 1st Division, the 24th held the town against repeated attacks by Ferey's and Marchand's Divisions. During the afternoon, grenadiers of Drouet's Division seized almost the entire town. The 24th counter-attacked and retook Fuentes d'Onor at the point of the bayonet. Masséna retreated three days later; the siege of Almeida continued.

Alexander's discharge papers confirm that he was 'wounded in the head at Talavera'. Discharged to the 8th Veteran Battalion in August 1814, he retired to Huntly in Aberdeenshire; sold with copied discharge papers.

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Sold for
£1,200