The Capture of the Eagle of the 8th French Infantry by the 87th (Prince of Wales's Irish) Regiment at the Battle of Barrosa, 1811

Watercolour by Denis Dighton, Peninsular War (1808-1814), 1812.

The 87th was the first British Regiment to capture a French Imperial Eagle during the Peninsular War. At the Battle of Barrosa, 5 March 1811, Ensign Edward Keogh and Sergeant Patrick Masterson captured the Eagle of the 8th Infantry Regiment. Koegh was shot and bayoneted after only managing to get a hand in the staff of the Eagle and died instantly. Masterson followed his officer and, after killing several men, wrenched the Eagle from the dying hands of its bearer, Lieutenant Gazan.

The Battle of Barossa, 5 March 1811, saw the French, under Marshal Victor, attack the Anglo-Portuguese-Spanish forces which were trying to raise the siege of Cádiz. Following a battle on two fronts, the Allies succeeded in routing the attacking French forces. Despite their victory, they were unable to raise the siege and so the battle was strategically indecisive.

Denis Dighton (1792-1827) was an English painter who was commissioned into the army 1811. In 1814 he was given the title of Military Painter to HRH the Prince Regent. He visited the Waterloo battlefield five days after the victory and created nine paintings of the battle. He also painted a scene of Admiral Lord Nelson's death at the Battle of Trafalgar.