The Diary of Private Sharkey

February 1813

After defeat at Burgos the 42^nd highland regiment went into winter quarters at the town of Ceia, but their quarters had to be shared with other regiments.

"There were so many men sent to each house. We had no beds; the floor of the house was the bed of the poor soldier: each man had a blanket. We rolled down on the floor, and usually lay by fours, if there were four in a house. We had always straw to lay on, when we could get it, and the cavalry needed it not; here we could get none."

Not surprisingly, disease soon broke out. The hardships of the retreat, combined with the lingering effects of Walcheren Fever among those who arrived in Portugal 1812 and the close living quarters, soon took its toll. According to one soldier

". . . we were not one month in quarters when a malignant fever broke out in the 42nd, and the men were dropping away very fast. We had funerals every day for a long time. More than half of the regiment was in the hospital., and the fever was still increasing."

The regiment took months to recover. By mid-April 1813, the 1st Battalion still only carried 464 men as "effective"!

In an effort to prevent the disease from spreading, the regiment was dispersed to small villages in the area. Most companies were billeted separately, with two or three miles between each. Lieutenant Dickinson commanded the company that was ordered to the village of Aldea de Serra. The village was situated in the mountains and the troops, in the words of one soldier "had good quarters here, plenty of clean straw to lay on, and the inhabitants were very kind to us." The duty was light and the food was good. It must have been paradise after the hardships of the previous campaign!

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Thursday, 28 May 2015