The Maclaine Family Medals


Archibald Maclaine was born on 13 January 1777, 2nd son of Gillean Maclaine of Scallasdale, and a twin with his brother Murdoch, later a Captain in the 20th Foot and the only British officer to be killed at the battle of Maida, 6 July 1806. His youngest brother John became a Major in the 73rd Foot and was killed in action at the battle of Waterloo; whilst his fourth brother, Hector, served with the 57th Foot in the Peninsula, won a Gold Medal at the battle of Nivelle and became a Colonel.


Archibald Maclaine was appointed Ensign in the 94th Foot on 16 April 1794; Lieutenant, 29 April 1795; Captain, 22 December 1804; Major, 87th Foot, 4 October 1810; Lieutenant-Colonel, 7th West India Regiment, 25 January 1813; Half-pay, 25 April 1816; Brevet Colonel, 22 July 1830; Knighted, 19 October 1831; Major-General, 23 November 1841; Hon. Colonel 52nd Foot, 8 February 1847; Lieutenant-General, 11 November 1851; C.B. on 4 June 1815, and advanced to K.C.B. on 6 April 1852; General, 5 June 1855.


Sir Archibald Maclaine served in the ‘Mysore campaign of 1799 against Tippoo Sultan, including the battle of Malavelly, siege and storming of Seringapatam, where he received three wounds, from the effects of which he was confined in hospital for upwards of a year. Capture of the Danish settlement of Tranquebar, and the Polygar war in 1801, including the battle of Ardingy, the affair at Serungapore, and was wounded for the fourth time when leading another detachment of the Scotch Brigade at the storming of the hill- fort of Panjalumcorchy on 23 May 1801. Mahratta war of 1802, 3, and 4 against Scindia, Holkar, and the Brea Rajah, including the storm of Julnaghur, siege and storming of Gawilghur, siege of Asseerghur (wounded), and battle of Argaum. Ordered home in 1804 in consequence of severe wounds received in the different actions from 1799 to 1804.


Peninsular campaigns of 1810, 11, 12, including the siege of Cadiz, the defence of Matagorda (an outwork of Cadiz, and a ruined redoubt when taken possession of from the enemy) from 22nd February to 22nd April, 1810, during which long period Sir Archibald, then a captain in the old 94th regiment, with a very small force under his command, most gallantly kept at bay 8,000 of the enemy under Marshal Soult, who conducted the siege, and did not evacuate until ordered to do so by Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Graham, his men being nearly all killed or wounded. Served also at the battle of Barrosa (dangerously wounded and his horse killed); and capture of Seville.’ (Hart’s Army List refers)


The Defence of Fort Matagorda


The 94th landed at Lisbon on 31 January 1810, but they embarked again on 6 February for Cadiz, in company with the 79th and 2/87th, as a brigade under Major-General William Stewart. The force was being hastily despatched by Wellington in response to an urgent appeal for help from the Spanish Government.


Marshals Soult and Victor had swept down on Andalusia and after scattering the Spanish armies that attempted to bar their way had invested Cadiz on the land side. Victor, who had charge of the siege operations, was already in position to open an attack against which the Spanish garrison inadequate in numbers and ill equipped, disorganised and demoralised, with their senior officers quarrelling among themselves, appeared helpless. A French advance into the Isla de Leon at the outset would undoubtedly have taken Cadiz by a coup de main. Against that the arrival of Stewart 's force, 3,500 bayonets, safeguarded Cadiz.


The brigade on landing was pushed forward to the outpost line, along the edge of the salt marshes fringing the channel of the Rio de Santi Petri. There the Light Company of the 94th, together with the light companies of the other two battalions of Stewart's command, were skirmishing with the French advanced posts within a few hours of setting foot on shore. On that came an event that won fame for the 94th throughout Wellington's army - the Defence of Fort Matagorda.Matagorda was a small stone fort, rectangular in trace and 45 yards long by 40 yards wide, mounting originally seven guns. It stood on the east side of Cadiz Bay, on wooden piles sunk into a mud flat at the extremity of the Trocadero peninsula, on a spit dividing the outer from the inner harbour. Opposite was a corresponding fortified work, Puntales Castle, distant 1,200 yards across the water, on the long Isla de Leon peninsula on which the city of Cadiz stands. The fort had been evacuated by its Spanish garrison in a fit of panic on Marshal Victor's approach, a few days before the British brigade arrived. The ramparts and parapet had been blown up, leaving Matagorda practically in ruins. General Stewart on his arrival considered the holding of Matagorda fort to be of vital importance, as it countered two other forts on the Trocadero peninsula, similarly abandoned by the Cadiz Spanish garrison, which the French had occupied and on which they were mounting guns. He directed it to be taken possession of and placed in a state of defence as best could be managed. Six guns and two mortars were to be mounted on it and a Spanish 74-gun ship with some gun-boats were told off to take station in support near by.


The officer selected to have charge of the enterprise was Captain Archibald Maclaine of the 94th, whose war services in India have been previously mentioned. Two officers of the 94th, Ensigns Cannon and Scott with sixty-seven N.C.O.s and men of the battalion were detailed for the service, together with a party of twenty-five artillerymen under Lieutenant Brereton, R.A., twenty-five marines under Lieutenant K. S. Parker, R.M., and twenty-five bluejackets under Midshipman Dobson of H.M.S. Invincible one of the ships of the British squadron at Cadiz.


Taking possession of the ruined fort on 22 February, Captain Maclaine spent the next few weeks overseeing the arduous work of getting the fort into a condition suited for defence. In what remained of the fort upon their arrival, there was nor shelter for more than half of the men. The French were meanwhile keeping out of sight, busily engaged in constructing batteries behind the houses of the Trocadero village, some 800-900 yards distant, and preparing platforms on the two abandoned Spanish forts in readiness for the arrival of the siege-train guns and mortars, then on the way from Seville.


On March 25th Lieut.-General Sir Thomas Graham arrived at Cadiz to take over the command from Major-General Stewart. He was followed a week later by reinforcements from England, three companies of artillery, a composite battalion of Guards, the 2/44th Foot and five companies from the 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the 95th Foot, bringing up the garrison of Cadiz to 8,000 British, including two battalions arrived from Gibraltar on February 17th. One of these last was the 2nd Battalion of the 88th Connaught Rangers, some of whom helped later at Matagorda. There were also some 17,000 Spanish troops now in Cadiz, but in bad order: they were more of a hindrance to the defence than a help.


General Graham went over in a man-of-war's boat to inspect Matagorda on March 26th, the day after he arrived. He found the men of the garrison at work forming a counter-guard to cover the walls of the fort, I5 feet high. By scuttling old Spanish gun-boats in the mud it was proposed to set up also a flanking battery. General Graham considered the defence of the place hopeless. “It is a miserable place,” he reported in a despatch to England, “and must fall whenever seriously attacked, there being no shelter for shells. I am in great doubt whether it should be continued.” He allowed, however, the work to proceed.


A Scottish officer serving with the Spanish Army at Cadiz, Viscount Macduff (afterwards 4th Earl of Fife, K.T., G.C.B.), was a constant visitor to the 94th garrison at Matagorda, “bringing with him hampers of food, hams and fresh meat, wine and beer.”


Graham visited Matagorda again on April 9th and also went on board the Spanish 74-gun ship and some gun-boats moored near to assist with flanking fire. It did not make him more hopeful.


Twelve days later the attack suddenly began on Captain Maclaine and his little garrison - opening at 3 a.m. on April 21st. “They commenced their operations,” says Sergeant Donaldson in his book The Eventful Life of a Soldier (he was a private at the time and one of the garrison of the fort), “by blowing up the houses which had hitherto masked the batteries. I was out on picquet at the time and suspected that they designed to attack us. Our suspicions were soon verified, for in a short time after they gave a salute of grapeshot which ploughed the earth on every side of us: but this was only a prelude. A volley of red-hot shot at the Spanish man-of-war succeeded, which set her on fire and obliged her to slip her cable and drop down the bay. A volley or two more of the same kind scattered the gun-boats and we were then left to bear the brunt of the battle alone. Now it began in earnest. Five or six batteries, mounting in all about twenty guns and eight or ten mortars, opened their tremendous mouths, vomiting forth death and destruction.”


Not a shot came in reply from the fort from 3 a.m. for over two hours until it was clear daylight and the gunners could see their targets. All were lying down near their guns.


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