Defence of Toulon In early 1793 he wrote to
Charles O'Hara, seeking passage to Gibraltar, of which the latter was lieutenant-governor and sailed aboard the
Resistance with
Lord St Helens, ambassador to
Spain. After France declared war on Great Britain and the
Dutch Republic on 1February 1793, the British fleet under Admiral
Samuel Hood assembled at Gibraltar. On his arrival there, Graham volunteered and went with the navy to
Toulon, where he acted as
aide-de-camp to
Lord Mulgrave and fought in the
defence of the town. According to Sir
Gilbert Elliot, Graham "left the highest character possible both for understanding and courage". Owing to the great strength of the island, he chose to enforce a blockade, and after a
siege lasting nearly two years, the garrison were compelled by famine to surrender in September 1800. The island became part of the
British Empire, a position it retained until it achieved independence in 1964. Colonel Graham's services were barely acknowledged by the Government of that day, who reserved their patronage and honours for the officers belonging to their own political party.
1801–1807 In the summer of 1801 he travelled to
Egypt, where his regiment, the 90th, had already distinguished itself under Sir
Ralph Abercromby, but he did not arrive until the campaign had been completed by the capitulation of the French army. He took the opportunity, however, to make a tour of Egypt and subsequently also visited Turkey. He spent some time in
Constantinople and then travelled on horseback to
Vienna. He would later recall the journey as one of the most agreeable rides he had ever enjoyed. Returning to spending some time in the discharge of his
parliamentary duties, and in attending to the improvement of his estates, Graham was sent to
Ireland with his regiment, after which he was deployed to the
West Indies, where he remained for three years. In 1807, the government known as the
Ministry of "All the Talents" was dismissed for their desire to provide
Roman Catholics in the country with equal privileges to other citizens. Graham was supportive of the policy, and publicly denounced the cry of "No Popery" raised by
Mr. Perceval as hypocrisy. However, his support for the attitude of the
Whig Ministry for Roman Catholic emancipation was not in line with the electors of Perthshire, at the time a small body of men, and on the dissolution of Parliament in May 1807, he declined to seek re-election. In his stead, Lord
James Murray was returned without opposition.
1808 In 1808, Graham served as aide-de-camp to
Sir John Moore, initially in Sweden, and then in Spain. He served with Moore throughout the whole of the campaign up to the retreat after the
Corunna. Graham was particularly commended for his services in the retreat. As
Sheridan said in the House of Commons, "In the hour of peril Graham was their best adviser; in the hour of disaster Graham was their surest consolation". When Sir John Moore received his fatal wound at the battle of Corunna, Graham was at his right hand, with his left hand on the mane of Sir John's horse. Immediately, he rode away to get medical assistance. Before he had returned, Moore noted his absence, and anxiously asked, "Are Colonel Graham and my aides-de-camp safe?". This was some of his last words. On his death, Moore's body was taken to Graham's quarters, and Graham was one of the chosen company that were witness to Moore's burial on the rampart of the citadel of Corunna.
1809–11 On his return to England, Graham was promoted to the rank of
major general and was appointed, in the summer of 1809, to command a division under
Lord Chatham. He was sent to join Chatham as part of an attack on
Walcheren but a bout of
malaria forced him to return home. Raised to the rank of
lieutenant general on his recovery, he was sent to Spain with a new commission, to take command of the British and Portuguese troops in
Cádiz, at that time surrounded by a large French force. The British Government attached great importance to the possession of Cádiz, as it was Britain's last stronghold in the Iberian Peninsula. However, the challenge was not simply a military one. As
William Napier remarked, while "money, troops, and a fleet—in fine, all things necessary to render Cádiz formidable, were collected, yet to little purpose, because procrastinating jealousy, ostentation, and a thousand absurdities, were the invariable attendants of Spanish armies and government". To raise the siege, Graham decided to launch an attack on the rear of the
investing army, and in February 1811, he sailed from Cádiz with a force of approximately 11,000 soldiers, including 7,000 Spanish troops under General
La Pena. For the sake of expediency, Le Pena was named in command. After assembling at
Tarifa, in the
Straits of Gibraltar, the allied force marched northward and arrived, on the morning of 5 March, at the hills of Barrosa, which lie to the south of Cádiz and so were south of the lines of the French forces. On the instructions of the Spanish general to secure the communication across the Santi Petri river, Graham moved his troops down from the heights of Barossa to the Torre de Bermeja, which lay halfway to the river. While marching through the wood towards the Bermeja, Graham was told that the enemy was advancing in force towards the height of Barrosa, which launched the
Battle of Barrosa. Seeing that the higher position was the key of that of Santi Petri, Graham immediately countermarched with the aim to support the troops left for its defence. However, before the British force could emerge from the wood, he was shocked to see the Spanish troops under La Pena retreating from the French left wing, which was rapidly advancing up the hill. Seeing that his own right wing was vulnerable to enemy fire, Graham said, "A retreat in the face of such an enemy, already within reach of the easy communication by the sea-beach, must have involved the whole allied army in all the danger of being attacked during the unavoidable confusion of the different corps arriving on the narrow ridge of the Bermeja at the same time. Trusting to the known heroism of British troops, regardless of the numbers and position of the enemy", Graham instead decided to launch an immediate attack. Under bombardment by Major Duncan's
battery of ten guns, a division of the French troops under
General Leval advanced on Graham's forces. It was stopped by a determined charge of the British left wing and the eagle of the 8th regiment of
light infantry was captured by the British along with a
howitzer. A reserve was formed up beyond the narrow valley which pursued the retreating French soldiers so that they were also defeated. At the same time, the British right wing confronted a division commanded by
General Ruffin. Confident of success, the French troops advanced up the hill but were driven from the heights in disarray, leaving two pieces of cannon behind to be captured by the British. "No expressions of mine", said Graham, in his despatch to the
Secretary of State for War and the Colonies, the
Earl of Liverpool, "could do justice to the conduct of the troops throughout. Nothing less than the almost unparalleled exertions of every officer, the invincible bravery of every soldier, and the most determined devotion to the honour of his Majesty's arms in all, could have achieved this brilliant success against such a formidable enemy so posted". "The contemptible feebleness of La Pena", according to
William Napier, "furnished a surprising contrast to the heroic vigour of Graham, whose attack was an inspiration rather than a resolution—so sure, so sudden was the decision, so swift, so conclusive was the execution". The French lost about three thousand men in this action, and six pieces of cannon and an eagle were captured, along with nearly five hundred prisoners, among whom were Generals Ruffin and Rosseau. The loss on the side of the victors was two hundred killed, and upwards of nine hundred were wounded. Had it not been for the actions of the Spanish general, the victory might have had the effect of raising the blockade of Cádiz. "Had the whole body of the Spanish cavalry", wrote Graham, "with the horse artillery, been rapidly sent by the sea-beach to form on the plain, and to envelop the enemy's left; had the greatest part of the infantry been marched through the pine wood to the rear of the British force, to turn his right, he must either have retired instantly, or he would have exposed himself to absolute destruction; his cavalry greatly encumbered, his artillery lost, his columns mixed and in confusion; and a general dispersion would have been the inevitable consequence of a close pursuit. But the movement was lost".
Lord Wellington, in a
dispatch to General Graham, says "I beg to congratulate you and the brave troops under your command on the signal victory which you gained on the 5th instant. I have no doubt whatever that their success would have had the effect of raising the siege of Cádiz, if the Spanish troops had made any effort to assist them; and I am equally certain, from your account of the ground, that if you had not decided with the utmost promptitude to attack the enemy, and if your attack had not been a most vigorous one, the whole allied army would have been lost". The Spanish general, in order to screen himself from criticism, circulated less damning accounts of his own role in the battle, which General Graham refuted by publishing in Spanish, as well as in English, his dispatch to Lord Liverpool, along with a letter to the British envoy, in vindication of his conduct. Lord Wellington mentions that La Pena was to be brought to a court-martial, where he was acquitted but stripped of command. The Cortes voted to General Graham the title of grandee of the first class; he, however, declined the honour. For his brilliant victory at the
Battle of Barrosa he received the thanks of Parliament, in his place as a member of the House of Commons.
1812 Shortly afterwards Graham joined the army under Wellington, and was appointed second in command. In January 1812, he took part in the siege and capture of
Ciudad Rodrigo, and Wellington declared that he was much indebted to him for the success of the enterprise. Three months later he and his friend
General Hill received the
Order of the Bath. A problem with his eyes, from which he had been suffering for some time, made it necessary for Graham to return home at this juncture. "I cannot avoid feeling the utmost concern," wrote Wellington to him, "that this necessity should have become urgent at this moment, and that I should now be deprived of your valuable assistance". At the general election in October 1812, Graham contested the county of
Perth with
Mr. Drummond (afterwards
Viscount of Strathallan), but though he was supported by a number of influential
Tories, he lost the election by seven votes.
1813 His visit to Scotland had the effect of restoring his eyesight, and in May 1813, he rejoined the army at Frinada, on the frontiers of Portugal, bringing with him the insignia of the
Order of the Garter to Lord Wellington. On 22May the British force quit Portugal and moved upon Vitoria in three divisions. The left wing, which was commanded by Sir Thomas Graham, had to cross three large rivers—the Douro, the Esla, and the Ebro—and had to force positions of great strength among the passes of the mountains, continually pressing round the right wing of the retiring French army. General Graham took a prominent part in the
battle of Vitoria (21 June), when the French were beaten "before the town, in the town, about the town, and out of the town"; and, by carrying the villages of Gamarra and Abechuco at the point of the bayonet, he intercepted the retreat of the enemy by the high road to Bayonne, and compelled them to turn to that leading to Pampeluna. He was shortly after directed to conduct the
siege of San Sebastián, which was defended with great gallantry and skill by General
Louis Emmanuel Rey. The first assault, which took place on 25 July, was repulsed with heavy loss, and the siege had in consequence to be raised for a time. It was renewed, however, after the defeat of
Marshal Soult in the
Battles of the Pyrenees, and a second attempt to capture the town was made on 31August. The breach was found to present almost insuperable obstacles, and the storming party strove in vain to effect a
lodgement. In this almost desperate state of the attack, Graham ordered a heavy fire of artillery to be directed against the
curtain wall, passing only a few feet over the heads of the British troops in the breach. This novel expedient was completely successful, and taking advantage of an explosion on the rampart caused by the fire of the guns, which created confusion among the French, the attackers gained a footing on the wall, and after a bloody struggle, which lasted two hours, forced their way into the town. Following their capture of San Sebastián, many of the attacking rank-and-file broke ranks and went on a rampage, committing numerous acts of rape and pillage along with killing approximately 1,000 civilians and burning much of the town. On 31August the French troops were forced to retreat from the town to their stronghold on the hill and fortress Urgull. On 9 September the Governor Rey surrendered the citadel, and the garrison, reduced to one-third of their number, marched out with the honours of war. The reduction of this important place cost the attackers 3,800 killed and wounded. At the crossing of the
Bidasoa separating France and Spain, Graham commanded the left wing of the British army, and, after an obstinate conflict, succeeded in establishing his troops on French territory. However, the return of the complaint in his eyes, and the general state of his health, obliged him to resign his command and return home. In return for his services, for the third received the thanks of Parliament, and the freedom of the cities of London and Edinburgh was conferred upon him.
1814 His eyes and general health recovered and in 1814 he was able to take the command of the British forces in the Netherlands, during which period he successfully supported
Bülow's attack on
Hoogstraten. On 8March Graham's attempt to carry the strong fortress of
Bergen op Zoom by a night attack ended in failure. In his dispatch to Downing Street he wrote: "My Lord, It becomes my painful task to report to your Lordship, that an attack on Bergen-op Zoom, which seemed at first to promise complete success, ended in failure, and occasioned a severe loss to the
1st Division, and to Brigadier-General Gore's brigade. It is unnecessary for me to state the reasons which determined me to make the attempt to carry such a place by storm, since the success of two of the columns, in establishing themselves on the ramparts, with very trifling loss, must justify the having inclined the risk for the attainment of so important an object, as the capture of such a fortress." ==Later life and death==