"The whole strength of Portugal, lies in the weakness of Spain." [1]

The long peace that had existed between Spain and Portugal ended in 1758 when Ferdinand VI of Spain died and was succeeded by his half brother Carlos III. Carlos was persuaded by France to renew the `Bourbon Family Pact' by which Spain was drawn into the war against Britain and led to her invasion of Portugal.

France and Britain had been at war with one another since 1756, but during 1759 a British fleet under Boscawen had attacked and defeated a French fleet off the coast of Portugal. The French, after losing five ships, had taken refuge in the port of Lagos on the Algarve coast. The French Government immediately demanded satisfaction for the British violation of Portugal's neutral waters. The British Government, anxious not to alienate the Portuguese, despatched Lord Kinnoul to Portugal to offer their apologies and to try to calm the situation. Kinnoul arrived in March 1760, to be told the French were demanding the immediate return of their ships. The Portuguese, determined not to break with Britain, sent a long reply to France, restating their neutral position in the affair. They did however, take the opportunity of Lord Kinnoul's visit to invoke their British Alliance and were assured by him, that in the case of hostilities it would be honoured.

In August 1761, Carlos III signed a secret article with France by which Spain agreed to declare war on Britain by I May 1762 This they did on 18 January 1762. Fortunately, Pitt had foreseen this and had prepared Britain well in order to deal with the new threat The same however, was far from true where Portugal was concerned, her defences were terribly run down and in need of urgent repair. The army gave no cause for optimism either, promotions had been deferred for years and officers were sadly lacking in both quantity and quality Efforts however, were made to try to bring some order to affairs, one being the payment of six months pay arrears for the amts.

Britain's manpower had been stretched to its limn by six years of global conflict and her many commitments meant that she could only spare 6,000 infantry, a regiment of light dragoons and some artillery for the defence of Portugal. It was therefore decided to send Lord Tyrawley to assess the situation and see if these troops would be sufficient for the task. He arrived on 12 March 1762 along with his staff of British officers to be greeted with a new French ultimatum that required Portugal to close her ports to British ships. Failure to do so would result in her being invaded. The news of this new French ultimatum reached the British Government on the 16 April, together with Lord Tyrawley's confidential report. His report confirmed that in all probability the troops available would be sufficient for the task There was of course, no certainty in the matter, but as he observed, the value of the Portuguese trade was worth the risk, for the force as it was, was too insignificant to affect materially the safety of Britain's other interests. He urged, however, that if they were to be sent, they could not arrive a moment too soon.

Orders for the deployment of British troops were issued on 8 April, along with arrangements for a contribution of up to one million pounds [2]. The British Government's initial hesitation had cost valuable time which now exposed Portugal to serious danger. Some steps however had already been taken to prepare for the troops deployment, and as early as January, orders had been issued for arms, tents and equipment to be assembled at Portsmouth. Transports had also been sent to Cork, along with two ships of the line to act as escort, to pick up two battalions of infantry. [3]

These troops were the first to arrive on the Tagus early in May, along with the quantities of supplies. The remaining troops were to come from the garrison of Belle Isle and consisted of four regiments of foot, [4] the 16th Light Dragoons and a detachment of artillery. However, before these regiments could be sent they had to be brought up to establishment. [5]

No less than twenty - one regiments in England were ordered to find the necessary drafts. The 3rd received 376 men from fifteen of these regiments in England, while the 67th received 200 men from the 91st, who were to remain in garrison on Belle Isle. This all took time and, although the original order was dated 1 May, it was not until 14 June that the force set sail for Lisbon.

These hastily raised troops however, gave cause for concern. The Earl of Loudon, now commander of the expedition said that they were "little disciplined" and that "most of them have never had a firelock on their shoulder", [6] but as these were the only troops available they would have to do. The force was also accompanied by a large number of British Officers who were to be seconded to the Portuguese army for the period of hostilities.

Wilhelm Freidrich Ernst von Schaumburg - Lippe (1724-1777), the famous artillerist who had fought at Minden and was one of Prince Ferdinand's ablest lieutenants in Westphalia, was appointed Supreme Commander. However, both he and Lord Tyrawley had grave reservations about the fighting ability of the Portuguese army. Lord Tyrawley described them as "an army in buckram, unpaid ill-proved, undisciplined and unorganised". [7]

Schaumburg - Lippe's confidence was not helped by the astonishing discovery that the waiters at a banquet held in his honour by the Portuguese generals were in fact captains and lieutenants in the army he had come to command. It was at this same banquet that he showed his contempt for the Portuguese artillery by offering a prize to the gun team that succeeded in hitting the flag above his tent. To add a little excitement he suggested that it should be held during the return banquet that he was to give for the Portuguese generals.

The declaration of war had not followed the ultimatum immediately, whether this was because the allies were not quite ready, or as the Spanish ambassador suggested, the Portuguese Queen was interceding with her brother, Charles III is not certain. It was however, not until 3 May as the stores from England began to arrive in Lisbon, that the first Spanish troops crossed the border into Portugal. Three days later the battalions from Ireland arrived and when they were known to be on the Tagus, Spain formally declared war.

The Spanish campaign opened with a three pronged attack, in the north, they seized the border town of Miranda do Douro after a magazine explosion, [8] followed quickly on 15 May by the town of Braganca. This force then continued its advance down the river Douro, but was halted short of Oporto in the traditional Portuguese fashion of clearing the country of all necessities and supplies. The second force was besieging Almeida, which eventually fell in August, along with its garrison of 4,000. It was feared that this force would then advance southward to out flank the Allies positions around Abrantes, but no advance developed until late August. The third force was intended to attack up the Tagus valley towards Lisbon, but for some reason it was still in camp inside the Spanish border.

The troops from Belleisle landed at Lisbon on 16 June along with their new commander Lord Loudon. He had replaced the seventy-year old Lord Tyrawley, who had been recalled to England for his long over-due retirement. Some said he had been recalled because of his quarrel with the Portuguese Minister, Pombal, who he alleged had grossly misrepresented the available Portuguese forces as 35,000, when there were far less. [9]

Lord Loudoun attempted to make a prompt move up the Tagus to join the allied army at Abrantes however, he was beset by more problems, this time due to transport deficiencies. Both horses and mules were lacking and the only country carts to be obtained were small and slow, being drawn by oxen. It was only just possible to find enough mules to draw the battalion guns, light six pounders drawn by four mules each and the tumbrils for the reserve ammunition. [10]

The situation with provisions was no better, they were both scarce and expensive, and firewood was also very hard to obtain. Eventually they did get going, although some had to travel by boat up the Tagus.

Schaumburg - Lippe, never one to await the enemy, was determined to strike a blow and so moved the Portuguese army forward to Nisa. He ordered Brigadier-General John Burgoyne to attack the Spanish army across the border while it was still in camp. Although the camp was at a distance of forty-five miles, and in spite of the many obstacles, this gallant officer rapidly struck across the mountains of Castel de Vide. Burgoyne crossed the Tagus at midnight of 23 August with 400 troopers of the 1e light dragoons, At an appointed rendezvous he was joined by the grenadier companies of the six British regiments, eleven companies of Portuguese grenadiers, two small guns and two howitzers. After an exhausting march they reached Castel da Vide where a small party of Portuguese joined them, 100 regular foot, 50 irregular cavalry and about 40 armed peasants. Burgoyne planned to march during the night of the 25th and surprise the town of Valencia d'Alcantara before daybreak. However, his guides had misled him as to the distance and as day broke he was still an hours march away from the town. So halting the rest of his force, he rushed on ahead with his light dragoons. Lord Pulteney of the 85th was ordered to follow with the British grenadiers mounted on dragoon horses and mules.

The light dragoons arriving at the entrance to the town and finding it unguarded, galloped through the streets sword in hand, cutting down or taking prisoner the guard in the town square before they could offer any resistance. A few parties of Spanish rallied and attempted opposition, but were speedily driven off or slain or captured by the grenadiers, who had by now arrived. A desultory fire began from a few houses, but the threat to burn and sack the town soon put an end to it. It was said that later a sergeant and six dragoons while out on patrol duty came across a party of twenty five Spanish dragoons under an officer, killed six and captured the rest along with their horses.

Burgoyne did not find the magazines and the stores in Valencia d'Alcantara that he had expected, but he did raise a contribution from the town and destroyed many arms and ammunition that he was unable to remove. He returned with many captives in the form of a Major General, [11] his aide-de-camp, the Colonel of infantry regiment Seville, its Adjutant, Captains, seventeen subalterns, many privates, three colours and the regimental pay chest. The British had lost Lieutenant Bank, one sergeant, and three privates killed; two sergeants, one drummer, and eighteen privates wounded.

The Allied army had followed Burgoyne's forward movement, but had halted at Castel de Vide just inside the Portuguese border. Lord Loudon with the British infantry minus their grenadiers had not gone forward with the army, but instead had moved north to Coimbra to guard against the expected turning movement from Almeida. The British grenadiers had been retained to use as stiffening for the Portuguese battalions. Unfortunately this victory had little effect on the campaign, other than to further delay the attack along the Tagus Valley. The northern Spanish forces were now moving south towards Lisbon and Coimbra in large numbers. Schaumburg - Lippe dare not risk an all out battle in which the fate of the Portuguese crown would be at stake, as considerable numbers of French reinforcements were beginning to join the Spanish army thus increasing Spain's already large numerical superiority. He was left with no alternative them to retreat from Castel de Vide and return to the position at Abrantes. Loudon's British at Coimbra were recalled and took up a position to the north around Sardoal.

Schaumberg - Lippe now endeavoured to guard every road and pass to Lisbon. Burgoyne was charged with defending the crossing over the Tagus at Vilha Velha. He took up a position south of the river facing the town situated between Nisa and the Tagus. With him was part of his light dragoons, the 85th (Royal Volunteers) and the six companies of British grenadiers (Pulteney's). To his right were 150 Portuguese under a Captain. A Portuguese detachment of four battalions, six companies of grenadiers and a regiment of cavalry, under the command of the Conde de Santiago, held the pass of Alvito. A larger detachment was posted at Perdigao to prevent the enemy advancing through the mountains to the southeast. The pass of Alvito was generally believed to be impregnable, but the Count de Maceda with 6,000 Spanish did not concur. On I October he tackled the Conde de Santiago's position, while attacking a small post commanded by a major at St. Simaon on his right. Another force under Count D'Aranda attacked the old Moorish castle of Vilha Velha. [12]

The castle was covered by fire from Burgoyne's detachment to the south, which enabled them to hold out for a few days, but the party at St. Simaon was easily routed.

The Portugal Campaign 1762

France and Spain Invade
Battle of The Alvito: 1 October 1762
Order of Battle: Anglo-Portuguese
Order of Battle: French and Spanish
Campaign Map (Jumbo: extremely slow: 351K)