Rifles - Mark Urban [27]
In the early part of 1810, though, they were not contemplating a general action; rather, they needed to frustrate the various French probing movements on the upland frontier. The Rifles were posted in villages about the uplands with savage-sounding names like Mata de Lobos (Death of Wolves), eventually taking up their position in Barba del Puerco (Pig’s Beard) towards the end of February. This followed two months in which they had been marching hither and thither almost constantly, time which had afforded Second Lieutenant Simmons a chance to see the less likeable side of Captain Peter O’Hare, his company commander.
O’Hare was a rough diamond typical of the Irish adventurers who made up much of the 95th’s officer cadre. If he was harsh with the young officers, that was because this was the Rifles system and because he had never gained anything easily in his military career. O’Hare had joined the Rifles when they formed and served under Beckwith’s predecessor, a man who believed in tough superintendence of his officers, one of them commenting, ‘With him the field officers must first be steady, and then he goes downwards: hence the privates say, we had better look sharp if he is so strict with the officers.’
For someone who had experienced O’Hare’s slow rise through the ranks, beasting some young puppy of a subaltern came all too easily. Simmons noticed that each time they were quartered in a Portuguese household during their march up from Campo Maior, O’Hare would take the best sleeping quarters and give the next best to his company’s two lieutenants. ‘Being the junior officer,’ Simmons noted, ‘I consequently got the last choice of quarters, which too frequently was a dirty floor with my blanket only. Captain O’Hare did not show me much kindness.’
The captain’s rough speech and slow advancement marked him out to officers and men alike as someone bereft of even the smallest quantum of patronage. O’Hare’s soldiers believed him to be such a rough one that he must have started his career in the ranks. This was not quite true, for he had begun his military career as a surgeon’s mate in the 69th Foot. This post was a sort of halfway house between the rank and file and an officer’s commission. However, O’Hare’s men were right in one essential: a surgeon’s mate could be flogged for his misdemeanours, something quite out of the question for an officer.
He was not long in that lowly station: having been commissioned in the 69th, O’Hare had taken the opportunity offered by the creation of the Rifle Corps to transfer out of his original regiment and reinvent himself. His officers in this new corps appreciated his diligence and bravery, providing him at last with patrons to fight for his advancement. O’Hare had served as adjutant, a sign of his commanding officer’s favour but a post also requiring him to police the regiment’s young subalterns, acting as his colonel’s truncheon. He had been promoted to captain in 1803 after that same commanding officer wrote of his ‘anxious wish that the eldest lieutenant of the Rifle Regt, Adjt O’Hare, should be recommended to the succession to the 3rd … company … Lieut. O’Hare is a subaltern of very long standing and a very good officer.’
By early 1810, O’Hare was in a similar situation to that of seven years earlier. He had served longer in his rank than any other regimental officer and he was next on the list for promotion, unless he was overtaken by another captain who had the money to purchase a majority or had shown heroism on the field of battle.