Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 40.djvu/89

 with the care of a large convoy of sick and wounded men and of stores, with which he crossed the mountain between Orense and Vigo without loss; but the hardship suffered during this retreat, in which he marched for several days with bare and bleeding feet, and only a jacket and pair of linen trousers for clothes, threw him into a fever which nearly proved fatal, and permanently weakened his constitution.

On his return home in February 1809 Napier was appointed aide-de-camp to his uncle, the Duke of Richmond, lord-lieutenant of Ireland, but gave up the appointment to go with his regiment to Portugal in May. On the march to Talavera he was attacked with pleurisy, and was left behind at Placentia; but, hearing that the army had been defeated, and that the French, under Soult, were closing on Placentia, he got out of bed, walked forty-eight miles to Oropesa, and, there getting post-horses, rode to Talavera to join the army. He fell from his horse at the gate of Talavera, but was succoured by an officer of the 45th regiment. He was soon carried off by his brother George to the light division at the outposts of the army, and was afterwards in quarters at Campo Mayor, where his regiment in six weeks lost 150 men by the Guadiana fever.

At the fight on the Coa in July 1810, Napier highly distinguished himself. On the occasion General Robert Craufurd [q. v.], with five thousand men and six guns, stood to receive the attack of thirty thousand French, having a steep ravine and river in his rear, and only one bridge for retreat. Napier rallied his company under a heavy fire, and thereby gave time to gather a force to cover the passage of the broken troops over the bridge. He received on the field the thanks of his commanding officer. His company lost thirty-five men killed and wounded out of the three hundred, the loss in the whole division. Towards the end of the action he was shot in the left hip; but the bone was not broken, and, although suffering considerably, he continued with his regiment until the battle of Busaco, 27 Sept. 1810, where both his brothers were wounded. He took part in the actions of Pombal and Redinha. At the combat of Casal Novo on 14 March 1811, during Massena's retreat, Napier was dangerously wounded when at the head of six companies supporting the 52nd regiment, and his brother George had his arm broken by a bullet. It was after this fight that his brother Charles, hastening to the front with the wound that he himself had received at Busaco unhealed, met the litters carrying his two wounded brothers, and was informed that William was mortally injured. Napier rejoined the army with a bullet near his spine and his wound still open. He was appointed brigade major to the Portuguese brigade of the light division. He took part in the battle of Fuentes d'Onoro on 5 May 1811, and on the 30th was promoted brevet-major for his services. He continued to serve until after the raising of the second siege of Badajos, when he was attacked by fever. Ill as he was, he would not quit the army until Lord Wellington directed his brother to take him to Lisbon in a headquarter calèche. Wellington took a great interest in the Napiers, and himself wrote to acquaint their mother whenever they were wounded. From Lisbon in the autumn of 1811 Napier was sent to England, and in February 1812 he married Caroline Amelia, daughter of General the Hon. Henry Fox and niece of the statesman.

Three weeks after his marriage Napier sailed again for Portugal, on hearing that Badajos was besieged. Before he reached Lisbon Badajos was taken, 6 April 1812, and his dearest friend, Lieutenant-colonel Charles Macleod of the 43rd regiment, had been killed in the breach. Napier was deeply affected by this loss. He took command of his regiment as the senior officer, having become a regimental major on 14 May 1812. At the battle of Salamanca on 23 July 1812, the 43rd, with Napier at its head, led the heavy column employed to drive back Foy's division and seize the ford of Huerta. Napier rode in front of the regiment, which advanced in line for a distance of three miles under a constant cannonade, keeping as good a line as at a review. After Salamanca Wellington with his victorious army entered Madrid on 12 Aug., and here Napier remained with his regiment until the siege of Burgos was raised, when the 43rd joined the army on its retreat into Portugal.

Napier obtained leave to go to England in January 1813, and remained at home until August, when he rejoined his regiment in the Peninsula as regimental major. He landed at Passages, and found the 43rd regiment at the camp above Vera, in the Pyrenees. On 10 Nov., at the battle of the Nivelle, Colonel Hearn fell sick, and the command of the regiment devolved upon Napier, who was directed to storm the hog's back of the smaller Rhune mountain. This position had been entrenched by six weeks' continuous labour on the part of the enemy. Napier and the 43rd carried it with great gallantry. When Lord Wellington forced the passage of the Nive, the light division, in which was the 43rd regiment, remained on the left bank, and on 10 Dec. the divisions on the left bank were