Robert Ballard Long

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Robert Ballard Long
4 April 1771 – 2 March 1825
Place of birth	Chichester, West Sussex
Place of death	Berkeley Square, London
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	British Army
Years of service	1791 to 1821
Rank	British Army Lieutenant General
Battles/wars	French Revolutionary Wars • Flanders Campaign • Irish Rebellion of 1798 Napoleonic Wars • Battle of Corunna • Walcheren Expedition • Albuera Campaign • Arroyo dos Molinos • Battle of Vitoria • Battle of Pyrenees • Siege of Pamplona

Lieutenant-General Robert Ballard Long (4 April 1771 – 2 March 1825) was an officer of the British and Hanoverian Armies who despite extensive service during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars never managed to achieve high command due to his abrasive manner with his superiors and his alleged tactical ineptitude. Although he remained a cavalry commander in the Peninsular War between 1809 and 1814, the British commander Wellington never trusted him. Wellington's opinion was never expressed directly, though when the Prince Regent manoeuvred his favourite, Colquohon Grant, into replacing Long as a cavalry brigade commander, Wellington conspicuously made no effort to retain Long. Other senior officers, including Sir William Beresford and the Duke of Cumberland, expressed their dissatisfaction with Long's abilities, and he was savaged by several nineteenth century histories of the Peninsula War which prompted a furious exchange of pamphlets between his family and the authors. However, the celebrated historian, and Peninsula veteran, Sir William Napier took Long's part in the argument.^[1] Recently Long's performance as a cavalry general has received more favourable comment in Ian Fletcher's revisionist account of the British cavalry in the Napoleonic period.^[2]

[edit] French Revolutionary Wars

Long was born the elder twin of brothers to Jamaican planter Edward Long and his wife Mary at Chichester in 1771. Long received a formal education, attending Dr Thomson's School in Kensington until age nine and then being sent to Harrow School until 18 in 1789. After three years at the University of Göttingen studying military theory, Long was commissioned into the 1st King's Dragoon Guards as a coronet in 1791. With the aid of his family's substantial financial resources, Long had been promoted to captain by November 1793 and served with his regiment in Flanders during the Duke of York's unsuccessful campaign there.^[3] In the winter of 1794/95, Long had left his regiment and was attached to the staff of General Sir George Don during the retreat into Germany and return to England.

Following his arrival, Long spent time as aide-de-camp to General Sir William Pitt who commanded the defences of Portsmouth and the friendship between the two men served Long well in his future career. By the middle of 1796 Long had again transferred however, joining the Hanoverian Army first as a non-serving officer in the York Rangers and then in command of the Hompesch Mounted Riflemen with a commission he purchased from Baron Hompesch himself for £2,000. This regiment was amongst those dispatched under Sir John Moore in putting down the Irish Rebellion of 1798, Long serving in the town of Wexford.^[3]

Uniform of a colonel of British hussars circa 1807 (A portrait of Henry, Lord Paget, later 1st Marquess of Anglesey)

At the conclusion of the rebellion, Long served with the York Hussars, another Hanoverian cavalry unit at Weymouth until the Peace of Amiens. Long spent the peace studying at the Royal Military College, High Wycombe, where he became friends with its lieutenant-governor John Le Marchant, and at the return of war joined the 16th Light Dragoons as a lieutenant colonel, transferring to the 15th Light Dragoons in 1805 under the Duke of Cumberland. It was with this regiment that Long caused the first of his many upsets, almost immediately falling out with his superior officer. The situation deteriorated so much that the two both attempted to command the regiment without consulting each other, resulting in years of arguments and hostility between the two.^[3] Part of the friction was due to Long's objection to Cumberland's penchant for excessive corporal punishments, such as 'picketing.'^[4] Long was with regiment for two years during which time he remodelled it along the lines of the now defunct York Hussars, with a similar formation and uniform. eventually the name too changed, becoming the 15th 'King's' Light Dragoons (Hussars).^[5] Long is mentioned frequently in the anonymously authored book "Jottings from my Sabretasch." The author, a troop sergeant-major of the 15th Light Dragoons, looked upon Long as a peerless commander and virtually all the superiorities of organisation or training he claimed for his regiment over others in the British cavalry he ascribes to Long's period in command.^[6]

[edit] Peninsular War

In 1808 with the dispatch of Sir John Moore's army to Spain, Long again applied for a position and was welcomed by his former commander, who by the time of Long's arrival was preparing to fight the desperate rearguard action of the Battle of Corunna amid the ruins of his campaign. Long did not have a command during the battle but instead served on his commander's staff, presumably being present at Moore's death. Returning to England, Long was soon recruited for Lord Chatham's disastrous Walcheren Expedition as adjutant-general.^[3] The campaign was an abject failure due to reconnaissance and supply failures, heavy rain, strong French resistance and a devastating epidemic of what was called at the time "ague," almost certainly malaria, which killed a large proportion of the men garrisoning the town of Flushing (Vlissingen).

William Carr Beresford

Long was not to be dissuaded from service however and returned to the Peninsula to join Wellington's army in 1810, commanding the cavalry (one British brigade, one Portuguese brigade and an unbrigaded British regiment) of the army under Sir William Beresford during the operations surrounding the first Allied siege of Badajoz. The cavalry clash at Campo Mayor on the 25th March 1811, was to become a very controversial action. Beresford considered that Long had lost control of his light cavalry, which had pursued fleeing French cavalry for up to seven miles until they came within range of the fortress guns of Badajoz. Beresford also claimed that his taking personal command of the heavy dragoons had prevented Long from ordering them to attempt a suicidal charge against French infantry squares .^[3] However, the army as whole felt different and sided with the 13th Light Dragoons who had pursued the French. The pursuit took place after the 13th had made an epic charge causing no less than six enemy squadrons to rout, having only two and a half squadrons themselves. Long was of the opinion, and was subsquently supported in this by the historian Napier, that if Beresford had released the British brigade of heavy dragoons he would have been able to force the whole French column to surrender.^[7] This was the start of the abrasive and acrimonious relationship between Beresford and Long. At the subsequent clash at Los Santos (16th April 1811) Long managed to retain the heavy dragoons under his command and inflicted a reverse on the French cavalry, the French 2nd Hussars suffering considerable losses. On two subsequent occasions, Long was ordered to withdraw from action without engaging whilst still delaying the French through manoeuvre, though Long maintained that he was given orders merely to fall back to a certain position, with no mention being made about delaying the French advance. On each occasion Long withdrew too quickly and gave the French time to respond, failures which frustrated Beresford enough to take advantage of Long's junior rank in relation to allied Spanish cavalry generals to relieve Long of his command, on the day of the Battle of Albuera, and replace him with the more senior general William Lumley.^[8][3] Long subsequently took an honourable part in the battle, though under Lumley's command. Long also served under Lumley at the Battle of Usagre on May 25th 1811, when the British cavalry neatly trapped two regiments of French dragoons at a bridge inflicting severe casualties.

Long was given command of a light cavalry brigade in June 1811; these were involved in a skirmish near Elvas, where a picket of around fifty men of the 11th Light Dragoons was captured (only one man escaped).^[9]Wellington was present on this occasion and gave Long a strongly worded reprimand which effectively stalemated his career. Long's political friends were, however, too strong at this stage to allow his total dismissal and therefore Long maintained his brigade command. He commanded the cavalry under Sir Rowland Hill at Arroyo dos Molinos, where a whole French division and several regiments of cavalry were trapped and destroyed as fighting units. Long's cavalry charged and broke the French cavalry and captured over 200 of them plus three pieces of artillery (General Bron, commanding the French cavalry, and the Prince of Aremberg, commander of the 27th Chasseurs, were also captured).^[10] He commanded a brigade at the Battle of Vittoria in 1813 and the Battle of Pyrenees the following year.

[edit] The End of Active Service

Long's final action was in the Siege of Pamplona, after which he was recalled by the Duke of York to England with Wellington's agreement.^[3] Long corresponded with Wellington, who assured him that Long's recall was not at his request. Long strongly suspected that the Prince Regent had engineered his recall to vacate the command of his brigade so that Colquohon Grant (commonly known as "The Black Giant"), the Prince's favourite, could be made its commander. Long refused the proffered posting as a divisional commander in Scotland and scornfully retired to his estate at Barnes Terrace, Surrey.^[3]

As an officer on the general list, Long was periodically promoted in retirement; he was promoted to major general in 1811 and to lieutenant general ten years later. Royal recognition was not forthcoming however after his public feuds with two royal princes and Long was not knighted or offered a title, unlike many of his contemporaries. He died childless in 1825 at his London house in Berkeley Square and was buried in the family crypt at Searle, Surrey.^[3] After his death, his nephew Charles Edward Long, a notable scholar and historian, wrote several pamphlets defending his uncle's reputation and attacking his enemies, especially Beresford; exchanges of pamphlets and letters between Charles Long and his uncle's opponents continued through the 1830s.^[3]

[edit] Legacy

Robert Long was a conscientious and brave officer, whose reputation suffered as a result of certain character flaws. If his record as a cavalry general was chequered he, nevertheless, contributed substantially to a number of victories, including Los Santos, Usagre and Arroyo dos Molinos. It is to be regretted that he is chiefly remembered for the long-running acrimony generated by the action at Campo Mayor.

To his subordinates he appears to have been a popular and respected figure; characteristically he refused to allow Wellington's censure of the 13th Light Dragoons, following Campo Mayor, to be entered in the regiment's official record. From the rank-and-file he gained the affectionate appellation "Bobby Long." The officers and men of the 13th Light Dragoons repaid his regard for them when they voluntarily subscribed to the purchase of a set of silver plate for Long when he was replaced in command of his brigade.

Unfortunately, Long could not, it seems, avoid entering into vituperative conflicts with his superiors. When the men he made personal enemies of included royal princes (both later to become kings) and a field marshal (albeit in the Portuguese service) Long's career and reputation were bound to be adversely affected. An example of the less attractive side of Long's character is the manner in which he operated a campaign of irritation against Beresford after Campo Mayor. Long harassed Beresford by requesting clarification, to the minutest degree, of virtually every order he was given. Long did not seem to recognise that there were conflicts that he had no hope of winning. Beresford was the superior officer with all the advantage of power within the relationship. Long's campaign backfired badly when Beresford, as soon as opportunity allowed, replaced him as the commander of the cavalry.

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Beamish, N.L, History of the King's German Legion, Vol. II, London (1837).
• Fletcher, I. Galloping at Everything: The British Cavalry in the Peninsula and at Waterloo 1808-15, Spellmount, Staplehurst (1999) ISBN# 1862270163.
• McGuffie, T.H (Ed). Peninsular Cavalry General (1811-1813): The Correspondence of Lieutenant-General Robert Ballard Long, London (1951).
• Napier, W.F.P. History of the War in the Peninsula and the South of France 1807-1814, London (1828-1840).

• Long, Robert Ballard. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, H. M. Chichester.