Original Queries

1 Portuguese Shako

The 1806 pattern was the barretina, a falsefronted design which apparently inspired the later British "belgic" model judging from illustrations, it may have been lower in the crown than the British version and the top edge of the false front was markedly more rounded. There were two shako plates in brass. The upper one was a small oval carrying the arms of Braganza, placed conventionally. The lower was a wide but shallow plate worn immediately above the peak and carried the regimental number. A white woolen plume was worn on the leftside above a cockade made of ribbon, a broad red stripe between narrower blue ones. Frequently, the cockade was formed simply by tying the ribbon in a bow. Shako cords where worn were in a mix of blue and facing colour and were hung in a number of styles.

From 1819, when uniforms were supplied by Britain, the barretina was discontinued and replaced by a model based on the British light infantry pattern. The two plates were retained and the cockade and plume moved to the front The earlier pattern must have remained in use for some time, especially in the Cacadores who had only been formed and equipped in the previous year.

Sources

The Portuguese Regular Army 1806-14 by Richard A Howard.
Portuguese Armies of the Napoleonic Wars by Von Pivka.
Military Dress of the Peninsular War by Windrow and Embleton.

2 Portuguese Militia

The Portuguese militia were intended as garrison troops, and the three regiments of Arganil, Guarda and Trancoso with 24th Line formed the garrison of Almeida during the siege. There were however many cases of militia units being used on the fringes of the main army and they operated in some strength against the flanks and rear of the French army facing the Lines of Torres Vedras.

At Busaco, the Thomar regiment was attached to Col. William Spry's Portuguese Brigade of Leith's 5th Division. Sadly, they ran away. During this battle, the right flank was guarded by the following force posted on the River Alva:

BrigGen. Henry Fane's Cavalry Division:

Lt-Col.John Campbell's Brigade:
4th Cavalry Regt. 451
10th Cavalry Regt. 354

Lt-Col. Loftus Otway's (?) Brigade:

1st Cavalry Regt. 422
7th Cavalry Regt. 223
Unattached (British): 13th Light Dragoons 430

Brig-Gen. Carlos Le Cor's Portuguese Division:

Col. Thomas Bradford's Brigade:
2 batts., 12th Line 1277
2 batts., 13th Line 1078
5th Cacadores 456

Militia Brigade (2000)

Idanha Regiment
Castello Branco Regt.
Covilhao Regiment

The militia brigade had previously been Le Cor's own command, and he may still have commanded it personally in addition to his responsibilities for the make-shift division. Fane was in overall command of the detachment.

However, the most active militia units were in the Nonh under the command of LieutGen. Manuel Baccelar. Whilst he remained most of the time safe in Oporto, he had three field "divisions" under enterprising officers.

Francisco Silveira had six regiments, to be joined by the end of 1810 by the reformed 24th Line from Almeida. BrigGen. Charles Miller had a further eight which dwindled to half that number by the end of the year. But the most resourceful of all was Col. Nicholas Trant.

His division is usually cited as seven regiments although in fact there were only six, namely Oporto, Penafiel, Coimbra, Aveiro, Maia and Feira. The seventh unit was a battalion of combined light companies which he himself refers to ascacadores. This force usually totalled 3500 to 4500 men.

In addition, there were at least three squadrons of regular cavalry, two batteries of 3- pounders and one of 6-pounders allocated to Baccelar. Silveira seems to have had first call on these although their deployment was fairly fluid.

On 20th September 1810, Trant managed to catch the French reserve artillery park unawares and could have done more had his command not dissolved at the first sign of hastily gathered oppositdon. The Feira regiment was missing for this operation, more than compensated for by the presence of two cavalry squadrons and five guns.

Next Trant had to hurry to tale up position at Sardao, on the left flank of the army drawn up on the ridge at Busaco.

Somewhere in the movement the Aveiro and Maia regiments and a cavalry squadron were detached (perhaps with the guns?), but Trant got into position to watch the bridge before the French discovered this simple way to turn the left of the Busaco position. Unfortunately, Trant's command evaporated before it was seriously pressed. He was supported at this time by a newly formed brigade under Col. John Wilson, comprising two battalions of grenadiers and two of cacadores (drawn from the commands of Silveira and Miller) as well as three squadrons of cavalry.

Next we hear of Trant, he is at Coimbra on 7th October where, still without the Feira Regiment, he briefly captured the town. Although he left again fairly smartly, he was there for much of the time while the French suffered in front of the Lines of Torres Vedras.

Evacuadng the town once more during the French retreat, he was back on 11th March 1811 to capture hundreds of French wounded left behind in the hospital. Shortly after this, much of the militia was released to return home, and although Trant's and Wilson's formations were kept on, their active role seems to have come to an end.

Militia regiments were nominally of two battalions although thq were not supposed to serve simultaneously. It appears unlikely that most battalions ever existed other than on paper. Each was of six companies, apparently two flank and four centre companies. We have seen that the grenadier and cacadore companies were brigaded together into "elite" battalions, at least some of the time. Equipment was woefully short, perhaps a blue coat and a shako with trousers of local cloth. Illustrations which I have seen show the British light infantry pattern of headdress rather than the barretina. Knapsacks and greatcoats would have been virtually unknown and muskets often in short supply when pikes were issued instead. No doubt the field divisions were among the best equipped and most reliable of the units available.

Sources:

History of the Peninsula War by Oman
History of the War in the Peninsula by Napier
History of the British Army by Fortescue.
The Peninsula War 1807-14 by Glover.
Peninsula Journal by D'Urban.

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