James Leith (British Army infantry officer)

General Sir James Leith GCB (1763-1845) commanded the 5th Division in the Duke of Wellington's Anglo-Portuguese army at several critical battles during the Peninsular War between 1810 and 1813.

Early career

Leith was commissioned as an officer in 1780. Promotion to major general occurred in 1808. Leith served in John Moore's campaign in northern Spain in 1808-1809. He commanded a brigade in John Hope's division that consisted of the 51st, 2/59th and 2/76th Foot. On January 7 at Lugo, Leith's brigade mounted a successful bayonet charge, inflicting 300 casualties on Marshal Nicolas Soult's pursuing French for the loss of only 50 men. [Smith, p 277] At the Battle of Corunna on January 16, Leith's 2,400-man brigade held the center of the line against Soult's attacks.

Under Wellington

When Wellington created the 5th Infantry Division on August 8, 1810, Leith became its commander. The British battalions first assigned to the division, the 3/1st, 1/9th and 2/38th Foot, had been involved in the Walcheren Expedition fiasco. These three units became the First Brigade, under the command Lt-Colonel James S. Barnes. [Oman, p 349] Added to this were two Portuguese brigades led by Colonel William F. Spry and Baron Eben. The 5th Division fought well at the Battle of Bussaco in September 1810, helping to repel the French soldiers of Jean Reynier's II Corps.

Brigadier-General Andrew Leith Hay took command of the First Brigade shortly after Bussaco. On October 6, Eben's brigade was detached and Major-General James Dunlop's Second Brigade became attached to Leith's division. The Second Brigade initially consisted of the 1/4th from England, and the 2/30th and 2/44th from Cadiz. For the rest of its wartime career, the 5th Division would include one Portuguese and two British brigades. During the winter of 1810-1811, Leith's soldiers helped man the Lines of Torres Vedras, keeping Marshal André Masséna's French army from capturing Lisbon. Leith went on leave on February 1 and did not return until December 1, 1811. During this period William Erskine and Dunlop headed the division. [Oman, p 355-6]

In April 1812, Leith's division played a key part in the storming of Badajoz. While the 4th and Light Divisions assaulted the breaches and the 3rd Division attacked the castle, the 5th Division escaladed the city wall at the Bastion of San Vicente. The assault on the breaches was a failure, with ghastly losses. However, the French garrison left too few men to guard the rest of the defenses and both the 5th and 3rd Divisions succeeded in climbing over the walls. While the 3rd Division became bottled up in the castle, Leith's men got into the town. Blowing their bugles and spreading confusion, the 5th Division panicked the French survivors so that a final effort by the 4th and Light Division broke through the defenses. [Glover, p 184-7] Leith's division lost over 500 men [Smith, p 377] and the commander of the Second Brigade, Brigadier-General George Townshend Walker was wounded. [Oman, p 363]

In July 1812, Leith's 5th Division played an important role at the Battle of Salamanca. Advancing in two-deep lines, with the British brigades in the front line, the division's musketry defeated Antoine Maucune's badly-deployed French division. [Glover, p 202-3] Leith was wounded in the action and sent home to recuperate. [Oman, p 363] He returned to command of the 5th Division on August 30, 1813 and was wounded again almost immediately on September 1 in the bloody but victorious assault at the Siege of San Sebastian. [Oman, p 369]

He was later made commander in chief of forces in the West Indies and governor of the Leeward Isles. Leith died in 1845 in Barbados.

References

* Glover, Michael. "The Peninsular War 1807-1814." Penguin, 1974.
* Oman, Charles. "Wellington's Army, 1809-1814." Greenhill, (1913) 1993.
* Smith, Digby. "The Napoleonic Wars Data Book." Greenhill, 1998.

Footnotes