Nicholas Trant (1769-1839) was a British Army officer of Irish descent who led Portuguese irregular troops in several actions during the Peninsular War.
Shortly before the Battle of Bussaco on 27 September 1810, Trant's Portuguese militia ambushed the French Army's baggage train and it barely escaped capture.
The French marshal intended to retreat north across the Mondego River into an area of Portugal where his troops could forage for food and supplies.
On 13 March, Masséna, pressed from behind by Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington's Anglo-Portuguese army, reluctantly directed his retreating columns toward the east and the Spanish frontier.
[7] On 14 April 1812, in the Battle of Guarda, Trant with 2,000 militia and a handful of cavalry unwisely tried to stop three of Marshal Auguste Marmont's divisions from raiding into Portugal.