[Dispatches] 23 June 1808

Lieut. General the Hon. Sir A. Wellesley, K.B., to Major General Hill .

' Dublin Castle, 23rd June, 1808

My Dear Hill,

' I rejoice extremely at the prospect I have before me of serving again with you, and I hope that we shall have more to do than we had on the last occasion on which we were together.

' I propose to leave town for Cork as soon as I shall receive my instructions from London. I understand that every thing has sailed from England which is to go with us; and the horses belonging to the Irish commissariat will be at Cork, I hope, before the transports shall have arrived, in which they are to be embarked. Let me hear from you if you learn any thing respecting them. The dragoons are to come direct from England to the rendezvous, and will not detain us at Cork.

' I enclose a list of the names of the officers appointed to be Deputy Assistant Adjutants and Quarter Masters General. Major Arbuthnot will probably be in Dublin this day, and I shall send him to Cork immediately, and you will put him in charge of the Adjutant General's department. You will put the senior of the list of Assistant Deputy Quarter Masters General in charge of that department, and give him the enclosed return of camp equipage and stores embarked in the Grinfield transport. I had understood that I was to have had stores of this description for 8000 men; and I shall be obliged to you, if you will desire the head of the Quarter Master General's department to inquire whether there are in the transport any more camp equipage stores besides those contained in the enclosed return.

'I beg you to arrange for the embarkation of the Deputy Assistant Adjutants General, and the Deputy Assistant Quarter Masters General: probably they and the Commissaries had best go in the horse ships

' I understand there is a vessel at Cork to carry 36 horses for the officers, besides those intended for the commissariat horses; and I shall be obliged to you if you will desire that spare room may be kept for my horses, and those of my aides de camp, which will arrive at Cork in a day or two.

' There remains nothing now but to brigade the troops, which may be a convenience for the present, and give us the assistance of the General Officers in the different arrangements which may be necessary on board the transports. But what we shall do now can only be temporary, as the whole corps must necessarily be new modelled when we join General Spencer. The Veteran battalion must be put out of the question, as that corps must go into the garrison of Gibraltar.

' The corps might be brigaded as follows:-The 95th and the 5th bats. of the 60th; the '5th, 9th, and 38th; the 40th, 71st, and 91st. You will alter this arrangement, if the corps belonging to your brigade are not put together, and you will put such (if all the corps of your brigade are not embarked for this service) corps as you please with the 9th. Let General Fane then command the Light Brigade; General Craufurd the Highlanders; and General Ferguson, who belongs to Spencer's corps, that brigade which has been, and will hereafter be yours. The Veteran battalion to report to General Fane, until it shall be otherwise disposed of.

' Pray let me hear from you, and acquaint me with all your wants, and whether I can do any thing for you here. You will readily believe that I have plenty to do, in closing a government in such a manner as that I may give it up, and taking the command of a corps for service; but I shall not fail to attend to whatever you may write to me.

' Believe me, my dear Hill, &c.
' ARTHUR WELLESLEY, K.B.,

Some game ideas from this dispatch:

• The Dragoons will meet at the rendezvous (presumably Portugal, a good start to a Dragoon-based Duty and Honour campaign - traveling to Portugal).
• A ship for Wellesley's horses as well as officers' horses (that screams to me an adventure for Beat to Quarters).
• Information on the brigades of the army (useful information for the flavor of the game).