The History of the Rifle Brigade (the Prince Consort's Own) Formerly the 95th

General Alten directed the baggage taken from the French at San Millan to be sold by auction, and the proceeds to be divided among the soldiers. Not only horses, mules and carts, and the usual baggage of an army were thus disposed of, but a variety of female attire was also found and sold; several Spanish ladies, the wives or chères amies of French officers, having been among the prisoners taken. The proceeds of this sale were divided only among the men of the second brigade, who were in fact the actual captors; very much to the discontent of the soldiers of the 1st and 3rd Battalions, who maintained that, if it had not been for their attack and discomfiture of the first French brigade, this booty would never have been taken.

On the 21st the Regiment fell in at daylight and advanced, the 1st Battalion leading, over some high ground; and having arrived early near the river Zadorra, which flowing from near Vittoria turns at nearly a right angle towards Miranda, were ordered to pile arms. The river was thus in their front, flowing from their left to their right, and then again turning round their right flank. While they were thus resting with piled arms, Lord Wellington rode up, and advancing to the very bank of the river, observed the enemy’s position. This was not unnoticed by the French, who detached a cloud of voltigeurs, who, rushing across a bridge at the village of Villodas, seized a woody height on the side of the river our men occupied, and opened a fire on the Staff. The 3rd Battalion and two companies of the 1st Battalion which stood next to them, were immediately ordered to stand to their arms, and drive them back. This they did in a very short time; and thus they, and not General Hill’s division, as has been generally said, began that memorable battle.[121] They drove the French out of the woody height, through the village and over the bridge; but not having orders to cross, they extended along the river’s bank, as did the voltigeurs on their side, and many men fell; for the river was not broad, and a desultory fire was kept up. And as soon as the French were clear of the village a cannonade was opened from a battery on some high ground beyond the Zadorra, by which many men were killed. For the ground was rocky, and our men were dispersed among the rocks, and the fragments splintered off by the cannon-balls wounded them almost as much as the balls themselves. One shot took some Riflemen, who were lining a garden-wall, in flank and swept off several men at once.

Their task having been accomplished by clearing the village, some of the officers and half a company of the 3rd Battalion took post at the church of Villodas, and observed the course of the battle. General Hill’s force had now possession of the range of hills on the enemy’s left; while the smoke and booming of cannon on the right of their position showed that Sir Thomas Graham had commenced his attack on that flank. At this moment, about twelve o’clock, a peasant gave information that one of the bridges over the Zadorra was undefended, and the 1st and 3rd Battalions, moving to their left along the bank of the river, crossed by it (the bridge of Tres Puentes) at the point where the Zadorra bends with a right angle, and ascending the high ground halted just under the brow of the hill. While they were there the 3rd Division were seen advancing to the bridge of Mendoza next on the left to that by which the Riflemen had crossed; and the French observing them sent down some cavalry and light troops to oppose them, while a battery of French guns opened fire upon them. At this moment Barnard, with great promptitude, led his Battalion to the left, between the French cavalry and the river, and took the light troops and artillerymen in flank with such a severe fire, that he drove them off and enabled the 3rd Division to cross the river without opposition or loss. But the English gunners, who from the opposite bank were replying to the fire of the French battery, not distinguishing the dark dress of our men, who were in close contest with the enemy’s skirmishers, continued to pound them, and several men thus fell by the fire of our own guns. Nor was it till the head of Picton’s Division came over the bridge and joined the Riflemen that they ceased their fire.

The Light Division covered by the skirmishers of the 1st and 3rd Battalions, and the 3rd Division covered by two companies of the 1st Battalion, now advanced and pushed up the conical hill in front of Arinez, the centre of the enemy’s position. In this advance Lord Wellington rode close behind the two 1st Battalion companies, which were heading the 3rd Division,[122] calling out to the men ‘That’s right, my lads; keep up a good fire.’ The Battalion soon cleared the hill, and were going down the other side, when they were stopped by a wall at the entrance of the village of Arinez, behind which the enemy had posted some battalions of infantry, who on our men coming over the hill opened a sudden blaze of fire, which checked them. But only for a moment; for running forward they occupied one side of the wall while the enemy held the other. And in the few minutes they were there two officers and thirty men of the Battalion fell. Then some of the 3rd Division, having deployed into line, gave the French a volley, which dislodged them; and the Riflemen clearing the wall, rushed into and through the village, and took three guns, the first which were captured that day. The first of these was taken by Lieutenant Fitz-Maurice and two privates of the 1st Battalion. Observing that the French artillery, a battery of six guns, was retreating, and believing that he could intercept it, Fitz-Maurice started with his company; but they being in heavy marching order, were not able to keep up with him. Five guns had passed before he reached the road; he caught the leading horses of the sixth, and stopped them. The driver drew a pistol and fired at him, but the bullet passed through his cap. He called on the two men who were with him to fire, and one of the horses fell, which completely checked the gun. Then the rest of the company came up, cut the traces, and made the three drivers and four gunners prisoners. However, just beyond Arinez the enemy rallied a strong battalion, who advancing on the Riflemen forced them to retreat about a hundred yards, and to give up possession of the captured guns. But as our men had cut the traces with their swords, taken away the horses, and killed many of the gunners, when they saw the head of the 3rd Division advancing, they went forward again; and thus reinforced, drove the enemy finally from the village, and recaptured and retained possession of the guns.

In the meantime the 2nd Battalion with the 2nd brigade of the Light Division were hotly engaged at the village of Margarita, to the left of Arinez; but that village being carried and the enemy being driven off, they also advanced on the left of the other two Battalions.

The whole Regiment then continued to advance in the direction of Vittoria. On their right a large body of the enemy, which had been driven by General Hill from the high ground on that flank, were marching in a parallel direction. They were at first supposed to be Spaniards; and on its being ascertained that they were French, it was a question with the commanding officer of one of the Rifle Battalions whether he should not attack them. But his orders were to make the best of his way to his front; and he did not like to depart from them. Moreover the intervening ground was bad, and it might not have been easy to close with them. So hurrying on and outstripping our people, they joined their main army in retreat.

As the Riflemen advanced they came to a village where there was a French battery which cannonaded them severely. They formed lines of Battalions and lay down in some ploughed fields, still exposed in some degree to the enemy’s fire. In about half-an-hour they moved on; and with little check passed through the city of Vittoria and proceeded about three miles beyond it, the enemy having abandoned all their positions and flying before them. Here they bivouacked, having been on foot since three o’clock in the morning, and having fought almost all that time, over about twenty miles of ground.

Surtees being the only quartermaster up with the Regiment, was sent back to look for its baggage. He repassed Vittoria, and after a long search amongst the carriages of all descriptions which blocked up the road, at last found it. But it was impossible to get it forward, or to extricate it from that wonderful tangle of every kind of vehicle and impediment which blocked the road to and through Vittoria. Wherefore, directing those in charge of it where to find the Regiment next morning, he returned through Vittoria and joined the bivouack. For the tents had not come up. And men and officers slept by the camp fires, having supped on provisions obtained from the well-filled stores of the flying foe.

On this day 1 sergeant and 3 rank and file of the 1st Battalion were killed; and Lieutenant-Colonel Cameron, Lieutenants Cox, Hopwood, and Gairdner were severely, and Lister slightly, wounded; 1 sergeant and 36 privates were also wounded: of the 2nd Battalion, Captain Jenkins and 8 men were wounded: of the 3rd Lieutenant Campbell and 7 privates were killed, and 16 wounded.

One of the first who fell was Lieutenant Leckie Campbell, who was shot through the forehead at the affair in the early morning at Villodas. Colonel Cameron was so severely wounded in the thigh that he was obliged to proceed to England.

A man of the name of Hudson of the 1st Battalion (one of the deserters found in Ciudad Rodrigo, who had been pardoned) received a shot in the mouth, which knocked out several teeth, and passed out at the back of the ear; yet from this wound he recovered. I have mentioned the Spanish recruits who joined the Regiment. One of them, by name Blanco, in this battle was distinguished not only for his bravery, but for his cruelty; stabbing and cutting the wounded French whenever he came upon them. This so exasperated an old Rifleman that he felled him with the butt-end of his rifle. The other men could scarce withhold Blanco from stabbing him on the spot.

On the 22nd, about mid-day, the Regiment moved in pursuit of the French, but did not come up with them; and they bivouacked that night near Salvatierra.

On the 23rd the Regiment again started in pursuit at daylight, and arriving at the river Borunda, found the enemy posted on it. The wooden bridge over it had been set on fire. But some shrapnell shells fired by Ross’ guns soon made them move off. The Regiment then forded the river, and pressed the rear-guard so hard that they could not destroy the bridges they passed. They now set every village on fire, with a view of delaying our pursuit; the passage through the flaming villages and falling houses not being easy, and the country round them being generally enclosed. But this did not much delay the Riflemen. At Echarri-Aranaz they had a skirmish with the enemy’s voltigeurs; but they soon moved off. They came up with them again at the village of La Cuenca; here they drew up, but our Horse Artillery having opened upon them, they resumed their retreat through Huarte. The Regiment encamped at La Cuenca.

On the 24th at daylight they marched, the 3rd Battalion leading; and after proceeding eight or ten miles found the French rear-guard in a strong position on the side of a mountain behind the river Araquil. The banks were rocky and rugged, and the stream swollen by recent rains. A narrow bridge, therefore, afforded the sole passage. The 1st and 3rd Battalions of the Regiment were the only infantry up at the time. The two Battalions were halted; and the men were ordered to put their knapsacks behind the troopers of the German Legion (who accompanied them) in order that they might move more rapidly. Then the 3rd Battalion were ordered by General Alten to mount a hill to the left of the road in order to fire down upon the right of the French, while the 1st Battalion lined the banks of the river and opened a smart fire. Under this attack the enemy gave way; and our people crossing the bridge, pursued them in a kind of desultory skirmish for about two miles. But they retired slowly, and fighting hard, to enable the troops behind them to make good their retreat. The road by which they were moving soon struck the great road, the ‘Camino real,’ leading from Madrid to Pamplona. The enemy detached one battalion to the right, which moved down a valley and was soon out of sight. It was ascertained afterwards that they fancied that this valley had an outlet to the road further on, where they might take up a position to receive our people. At the end of about two miles, where there was a narrow pass between two overhanging rocks, the enemy halted, and soon advanced upon our two Battalions. A sharp attack now again took place; and the battalion which had left the road emerged from a wood among our skirmishers. It was roughly handled, and suffered severely before it regained the road. It seems that, finding no way out of the valley they had entered, they returned to help their companions.

At this moment two of Ross’ guns came up, and opened on them; and a general fight of all three arms (the Riflemen, the German hussars, and Ross’ guns) took place, which drove the French from their position, through the pass and on to the open country beyond. Here the road is carried on an embankment with very steep sides. And when they had proceeded about two miles, the fire of Ross’ guns killed two and wounded one of the horses of the French gun, an 8-pounder.[123] They were so hard pressed that they had no time to disentangle the horses, and they flung the gun, with the horses, over the embankment, here about fifteen feet deep. Thus the Riflemen, who had taken the first gun at Vittoria, took the last and only gun which the French carried off from that field. ‘The French entered Pamplona, therefore, with one howitzer only.’[124] The Riflemen (some of them mounted behind the troopers of the Royal Dragoons)[125] continued to pursue them till they were under the walls of that fortress; and they occupied that night the villages of Aldava, Santa Barafra, and Berrioplano.

On the 25th, at an early hour, the Regiment advanced towards Pamplona, and arriving about a mile and-a-half from it, they moved to the left, just out of range of the guns of the place, and proceeding by a mountain road to Villaba, encamped near that village.

On the 26th Lord Wellington intending to intercept General Clausel, who having learnt the rout of the main French army at Vittoria, was endeavouring to make good a retreat into France by the east of Spain, the Regiment (with some other divisions of the army) moved to Noain and past the aqueduct of Pamplona, and encamped near Muro, at the junction of the roads from Tudela and Zaragoza.

Next day they started early, and near Barasoain halted to cook and refresh. Then passing through Tafalla, where they crossed the Zadacos river by a stone bridge, and where the inhabitants received them with acclamations of joy, they encamped in an olive-grove near Olite.

On the 28th passing through the town of Olite and striking out of the Zaragoza road they took that to San Martin. And after crossing a barren plain, halted to cook in a pine-wood near Murillo del Fruto. They had then marched about four leagues; but their labours were not nearly over. For starting again they skirted the river and got to Gallepienza, where they crossed it by a stone bridge; and proceeding by a mountain track, where darkness overtook them, they encamped in a ploughed field, near Caseda, about midnight in tremendous rain. The whole march had been about twenty-four miles; and they had been pushed on in the hope of intercepting Clausel; but it was here reported that the Alcalde of Tudela had given Clausel notice of the movements of the column, and that he had effected his retreat by another road.

Therefore the Regiment halted on the 29th; and on the 30th beginning its return to Pamplona, crossed the Aragon at Caseda and marched to Sanguessa, near which they encamped, and halted during July 1.

On the 2nd they resumed their march towards Pamplona; passing Narden and Andoain, and encamped near Monreal.

On the 3rd the Regiment returned by Noain to Villaba, and moving past it, encamped at the village of Berissa near Pamplona. On the next day it furnished working parties to throw up works to shelter our picquets from the fire of the place, or from a sortie of the garrison.

On the 5th the Regiment commenced its march into the Pyrenees; and proceeding up a narrow valley to Ostiz, encamped near a rivulet.

And on the 6th, penetrating into the mountains, they marched by Olague to Lanz, which is situated at the foot of the Pyrenean range.

At daybreak on the 7th the Regiment began to climb the mountains and halted on a mountain side near Gustella and Lagassa, where they were about to encamp for the night. But in three hours they got a fresh route and were ordered to move into San Esteban.

Here they halted in very pleasant quarters until the 14th. During this time Major-General Skerrett was appointed to the command of the second brigade of the Light Division, in which was the 2nd Battalion, in succession to General Vandeleur, who was transferred to the command of a cavalry brigade.

On the afternoon of the 14th the Regiment marched from San Esteban, and encamped on the heights above Sumbilla.

On the 15th at daylight they marched down the Bidassoa, by a road which sometimes skirted its bank, and sometimes rose upon the mountain side over it. On getting near the bridge of Lezaca the enemy’s advanced post was discovered near it, on the heights of Sta. Barbara. And the 1st Battalion was ordered to dislodge them. They climbed the mountain slowly; for it was very steep, and they were obliged to husband their strength for the fight which might take place at the top. The French gave them some shots; but when they arrived on the crest, they quickly drove them down the other side. And as they stood on the top the Riflemen had a view of the enemy’s position; and of the Bidassoa, which here makes a sharp bend to the left, and flows thence through a rocky channel to the sea. Below them was the town of Vera and the road which, leading into France through Vera, is called La Puerta de Vera. To defend this pass the French had thrown up strong works. And here also the Riflemen looked, far to the left, upon the sea; and a simultaneous cheer burst forth at the sight of that ocean which seemed to connect them with their native land, and which, for some years, most of them had not seen.

The 43rd drove the enemy out of the town of Vera; but they still kept a picquet in some outhouses near it, and our picquets were posted in Vera. The Regiment encamped on the heights they had gained.

It remained in this position, furnishing the picquets, and keeping up the communication between the army under Sir Thomas Graham, which was besieging St. Sebastian, and that under Sir Rowland Hill, which was investing and covering Pamplona.

On July 25 Marshal Soult, who had assumed command of the French army, attacked the positions of Roncesvalles and Maya, with a view to raising the siege of Pamplona or throwing provisions into it; and after several hardly-contested fights had obliged Hill to fall back. It therefore became necessary for the Light Division also to retire, though the enemy in front made no sign of advancing. Accordingly on the 26th the Regiment marched from their encampment, and crossing the Bidassoa, and passing through Lezaca and Jansi, encamped for the night on high ground near Sumbilla.

They did not move from this till nightfall on the 27th, when they resumed their retrograde movement; and marching all night did not reach Zubieta (a march of only two leagues and-a-half) till after daylight. For the route was by mountain tracks and in the dark, and was accomplished with difficulty and fatigue. So dark and dangerous was the way, that at a stream on the road, which dashed down from the mountain side, a Corporal of the Regiment placed himself in mid-stream, and taking each passer by the hand guided him to the other side. On arrival at Zubieta, about a league to the right of San Esteban, their late quarter, they encamped for the day; and starting again at nine in the evening arrived at Salin next morning. This night march, though not so harassing as the last, for the road was less difficult, was yet not free from danger. For Lieutenant William Eeles, the Adjutant of the 3rd Battalion, having had his cap knocked off by the bough of a tree, in endeavouring to catch it as it fell, pulled his horse off the road, and both rolled down a precipitous declivity. Fortunately it was not very deep; and horse and man were recovered unhurt. At Salin they encamped for the day. And on the 30th proceeded by a long march, by day, to Lecumberri, and were moved into a wood à cheval on the great road from Pamplona to Bayonne, and about equidistant from the former and Tolosa. They were again to keep up the communication between Hill’s corps and that before St. Sebastian; and also to bar the way to any of the enemy’s troops which might move by that road. During the last few days they had heard heavy firing in the direction of Pamplona, but were without intelligence of the result of the fight. But late on the 31st, their anxiety was relieved by the arrival of a staff officer, who informed them of the complete defeat and repulse of the French in the battles of the Pyrenees; and who also conveyed orders that they were to advance over the ground by which they had retired. Wherefore, falling in on the evening of that day, they marched to Larissa and encamped there.

On the 1st August they marched early, and passing by Esema, Zubieta and Irurlia, heard that they were to push forward to intercept the retreat of the French. They proceeded by a mountainous and rough road, under a burning sun, and about three o’clock reached some high ground on the left bank of the Bidassoa. It was a long march and the heat was oppressive. They had marched about thirty miles, when, about three o’clock, they arrived on the heights overhanging the river near the bridge of Jansi. Then the knowledge that they were near the enemy revived the spirits of the wearied Riflemen; and declaring that they ‘would knock the dust out of their hairy knapsacks,’ the 1st Battalion descended the hill on the left, while the 3rd Battalion held a wood above. Then the disordered column of the enemy was seen approaching on the opposite bank, faint and weary; and the 1st Battalion, concealed among the brushwood at the foot of the hill, received them with a raking fire. Many, pointing to the wounded who were borne with them, by their gestures implored quarter, and the generous Riflemen withheld their fire, and called to one another to spare them. Yet many, as they passed, fired at our men, but without much effect; for they were so effectually concealed in the brushwood, that the flash of their rifles was the only guide for the aim of the enemy. Thus pursued by the 4th Division, they had to pass this fiery ordeal. Some throwing off their knapsacks, and casting away their arms, strove to climb a hill on their right; but it was inaccessible; and on the hill-side the fire of our men picked them off. Then they pushed some light troops across the river, who became engaged with the 3rd Battalion; but they were soon driven down, and across the bridge. In the evening two of our companies got possession of the bridge, and then the rear of the column had to pass in front of their fire. At last they got a battalion into line behind a stone wall beyond the river; this somewhat checked our fire, and the remainder of the flying enemy passed with less loss. Yet arms, knapsacks, baggage and wounded were abandoned.

In this affair the Regiment lost but few men. Captain William Percival of the 3rd Battalion was wounded, being at the very close of the day shot through the right wrist. The left hand had been before contracted by a wound in that wrist; and he was also lame from a wound in the hip.

This day’s march was most fatiguing, being made under a hot sun, and with frequent want of water. The whole distance was about eight leagues; and considering that it was made in the heat of an August sun, and that at the end of the march the men had four or five hours’ hard fighting, it may hold its place with the famous march from Calzada to Talavera. Napier gives a frightful picture of the sufferings of the men. It was said that 200 men of one regiment of the second brigade of the Light Division fell out. But the Riflemen had a resolution to excel; and many held on till they died. Yet when the roll of the 3rd Battalion was called just before the fight began, only nine men were absent.

On the 2nd, the 1st and 3rd Battalions moved after the French by the road to the pass of Vera; the 2nd Battalion by Jansi and Lezaca; and the Regiment took up the line of picquets it had held a week before without firing a shot. On the march they met Lord Wellington, who, in recognition of their long march and hard fight of the day before, honoured them with an approving nod and smile, which much pleased the soldiers.

In the afternoon, it being observed that the enemy held the mountain of Echalar, which standing on the right of our position was in fact in our line of posts, it was resolved to dislodge them. And the 1st and 3rd Battalions supported by the 43rd were ordered to take the position. The 1st Battalion extended to the right, and the 3rd advanced up the face of the hill. A thick fog came on, and though the French kept up a pretty brisk fire they did the Riflemen no harm. For their aim being probably rendered uncertain by the mist, they fired over their heads, and any of their shot which took effect, fell on the 43rd, who were much lower on the hill-side. The 3rd Battalion, advancing up the hill in the fog, found themselves against a rock the top of which was thronged with Frenchmen, who gave them a biting fire. As the Riflemen were unable to climb the precipitous face of the rock, the Frenchmen called upon them with gibes, in the Spanish language, to come on. The Riflemen retreated for an instant to the rocks around, among which finding cover, they kept up a telling fire on the occupants of the rock. And one of the Spanish recruits before mentioned, enraged at the insults of the French, replied to their sneers in most bitter words, which he accompanied with constant shots. But he was soon killed. Now gathering courage they made an advance against the 1st Battalion; but the Riflemen with a shout of defiance repelled them, and they turned and fled; and descending their side of the mountain retreated to their own position.

The men, while the Regiment remained in the neighbourhood, called this mountain ‘Barnard’s Hill;’ in memory of the valour with which Sir Andrew, who commanded on the occasion, had carried it.

An officer of the 1st Battalion had a strange escape in this fight. When the enemy advanced on that Battalion, they made a rush at him, which in trying to avoid, he fell into a bush. They seized his sword, which was not drawn, to drag him out; but it broke away from the belt, and he escaped.

A Portuguese regiment took up the ground the Riflemen had gained; and they encamped near Vera and the Bidassoa.

On the 3rd another division having relieved them, the Regiment returned to their old encampment on the heights of Sta. Barbara, where they remained for about two months.

On August 25, the three Battalions being together, it was resolved to commemorate the anniversary of the formation of the Regiment. A trench was dug round a parallelogram of greensward, which served for the table, while the convives sat on the opposite bank, with their legs in the trench. Many patriotic toasts and many healths were drunk. And the cheering that followed them must have astonished their French neighbours. Indeed they are said to have remained under arms part of the night, expecting an immediate attack. This was, I believe, the first ‘Regimental Dinner.’

On the 31st the storming of St. Sebastian took place. Fifty men under a subaltern of each Battalion of the Regiment were allowed to volunteer for this duty. Lieutenant James Perceval of the 1st Battalion claimed this duty by right of seniority, but William Hamilton, a Second Lieutenant, obtained Sir Andrew Barnard’s permission to accompany the stormers also. Lieutenant Eaton commanded the stormers of the 2nd Battalion. I regret that I am unable to ascertain who led those of the 3rd.

About noon, they moved forward from the trenches, and after five hours’ desperate fighting—for the breaches were found to have fallen in such large fragments as to be almost impregnable, and the resistance of the enemy was most gallant—they entered and took possession of the place. Perceval was severely wounded at the foot of the breach; and Hamilton was also desperately wounded in two places; one ball entered the eye, passed down through the mouth, and was cut out at the shoulder-blade. Both recovered; but Hamilton was never again able to join the Regiment, and was placed on full-pay of it (as First Lieutenant) some time afterwards. Of the 1st Battalion, besides these officers, 2 Riflemen were killed, and 2 sergeants and 4 Riflemen were wounded; of the 2nd Battalion, 3 Riflemen were killed, and 6 wounded; and of the 3rd Battalion, 2 Riflemen were killed and 2 wounded.[126]

But on that same day the Battalions from which these volunteers had been detached had also hard fighting. They had, as usual, been under arms before daybreak; but after dawn the mountains were covered with a thick mist, and as nothing appeared they broke up, and had just returned to their encampment, when the bugles sounded the ‘assembly;’ and a breeze having carried off the mist, the hills on the French side of the river were seen covered with troops. These soon began to descend, and forded the Bidassoa a little below Vera. Some columns also approached Vera in order to cross by that bridge; but the 2nd Battalion were posted here, having two companies at the bridge and in a loop-holed house near it, and the other four in the town. They resisted and defeated the attempt to cross at that point. Meanwhile the 1st and 3rd Battalions, seeing the enemy advancing, thought the attack would be on them. For the French crossed in force, preceded by numbers of skirmishers under cover of the fire of some mountain guns. This fell short at first; and instead of reaching our people some shells fell among their own skirmishers, and caused no little confusion; while the Riflemen, who were looking down upon them, burst forth into a loud and derisive cheer, as each shell fell among them. But when they came across, and our people were to receive them, they turned to their right, and proceeded towards St. Sebastian to attack some Spanish troops on the left of the position the Riflemen occupied, leaving some troops about Vera to keep them in check.

Thus matters remained till the afternoon; the 1st and 3rd Battalions suffering, but a little, from the fire of the enemy’s mountain guns. About three o’clock three companies of the 1st Battalion with part of the 43rd, crossed by the bridge of Lezaca, and proceeded along the heights above the river, in a direction parallel to the French; they were afterwards followed by the remainder of Kempt’s brigade, and moved from hill to hill, in the evening occupying a height above Lezaca where they remained for the night. But a picquet was left on the heights of Sta. Barbara, with orders, as soon as it was relieved by a Spanish regiment, to follow the Battalion across the Bidassoa. But this was no easy matter. For a tremendous storm of wind, thunder and lightning came on; and it was extremely difficult for the picquet to thread their way by mountain paths along the hill-side.

The rain also fell in torrents. And as is always the case in these mountains every rill rapidly became a torrent, and the Bidassoa rose and ere long became unfordable. That portion of the enemy to the left of the British position had, on being defeated, recrossed the river. But General Clausel’s force, which was nearer to Vera, was unable to do so. Clausel himself, indeed, with two brigades, did repass the river early in the evening, leaving General Vandermaesen with the other divisions on the left bank. Then the Bidassoa rose rapidly, and night set in. Some of his troops attempted to ford the angry river, but were swept away and drowned. Then the only chance was to force the bridge of Vera. Here Cadoux’s company and part of Hart’s company of the 2nd Battalion were posted under command of the former, in a loop-holed house about thirty yards from the bridge, having double sentries posted on the bridge itself. Thomas Smith, the Adjutant of the 2nd Battalion, having reported to General Skerrett that the bridge was held by this detachment, Skerrett sent his Brigade-Major, who was sleeping in the same room with him, to Cadoux, desiring him to evacuate it, probably in consequence of Vandermaesen’s overwhelming numbers. This Cadoux refused to do; saying that he could hold the bridge-house. Meanwhile, about two o’clock in the morning, the French, silently drawing near the bridge, made a rush. The two sentries on the bridge snapped their rifles to give the alarm; but the priming was wet from the heavy rain, and they were at once shot down or bayoneted. Cadoux, by his fire from the bridge-house, kept the head of the advancing column in check. At this fatal moment General Skerrett sent a fresh order to Cadoux, and in such terms as he could not disobey, to leave the bridge-house and join his Battalion. He of course complied; but with the memorable words that ‘but few of his party would reach the camp.’ Even so it was. They at once became exposed not only to the fire of the troops on the bridge, but to a cannonade from the guns of the French reserve on a height near Vera. Cadoux was killed; 2 sergeants and 14 rank and file were killed; and Captain Hart, Lieutenants Llewellyn and R. Cochrane, 9 sergeants and 34 rank and file were wounded. So that every officer present was either killed or wounded besides 11 sergeants and 48 rank and file, out of a total strength of about 100 men. And it is to be noted that until the party left the bridge-house Cadoux had not lost a man, except the double sentries on the bridge.[128] The opposition being thus withdrawn the French crossed the bridge, and returned to their position. Whereas had Skerrett not only left Cadoux at the bridge-house, but supported him with the remainder of the Battalion, or with the 52nd, who were close at hand, not a man of Vandermaesen’s division could have recrossed the Bidassoa. One company of the 3rd Battalion indeed and some Portuguese troops came up about daylight, but it was then too late, and the passage had been effected.[129]

For this neglect and for the sacrifice of Cadoux and his gallant band General Skerrett has been greatly and deservedly blamed; in which censure Sir William Napier (though apparently not fully aware of Skerrett’s fault) concurs.

Besides the great loss of Cadoux’s party at the bridge-house, Lieutenant Nicholas Travers, who commanded the company of the 3rd Battalion which came up at dawn, was also wounded; and 2 men of it were killed and 10 wounded.

But if the Riflemen suffered, the loss they inflicted on their assailants was enormous. The bridge next morning was strewn with their bodies; and the river full of them; while many wounded had been removed. General Vandermaesen, who commanded the force, was killed.

In the course of the following day the Regiment returned to their former encampment, and took up the line of picquets they had previously furnished. Here they remained in quiet until October 6, on which evening Barnard arrived from head-quarters with the welcome intelligence that they were to force the pass of Vera on the ensuing morning. Early in the night a thunderstorm set in; but it rolled away in the course of the night, and the morning was fine when the Regiment fell in. Leaving the tents standing to deceive the enemy as to the object of the movement, the three Battalions, with the other regiments of the Division, formed at the foot of the heights behind the town of Vera. A little to the right was an isolated hill, standing out in front of the great Pyrenean chain on the north of the valley of the Bidassoa, to which the soldiers had given the name of ‘the Boar’s back.’ This was to be occupied as a preliminary measure. And Colonel Ross, extending the 3rd Battalion, began to ascend it. Without firing a shot, though exposed to the fire of the enemy who crowned the crest, the Riflemen climbed to a pine-wood more than half-way up the mountain side; whence, after they had rested for a few minutes, they issued again. At this time the French crowded behind the crest; and it was thought by their brother Riflemen in the plain below, who could see the ground beyond, that the enemy would charge down the slope. But it was not so; for pursuing their way with all the steadiness of a field-day, Ross and his gallant Battalion gained the ridge. Then its defenders turned and fled; and then the Riflemen plied their rifles, which they had not before discharged, and poured a fire into them as they hurriedly descended the reverse slope. This exploit and the manner in which it was executed excited the admiration not only of their own comrades still standing in the plain below, but of the whole 4th Division, which had been moved up as a support to the Light Division.

This being accomplished, the other two Battalions moved forward. The 1st, with General Kempt’s brigade, advanced into the pass, and though at first sight their task seemed a difficult one, yet the steadiness and gallantry of the men carried all before them; and with little loss they stood on the top of the pass. Some descended the other side. For George Simmons and Cox with about sixty Riflemen, following the retreating enemy down the pass, took some prisoners, among whom were a commissary and two bandsmen. These the soldiers ordered to play some French tunes; but from the alarm and the pace at which they had retreated, their music was neither very coherent nor melodious.

But the 2nd Battalion had a more difficult task to perform. The second brigade was on that day under the command of Colonel Colborne[130] of the 52nd (Skerrett being absent from the field on account of ill-health), and to them was allotted the duty of carrying a high hill on the left called La Bayonette, which bristled with the enemy’s entrenchments. The Riflemen ascended the lower slopes of the hill, and coming out of a wood which there girded it, advanced with a quick fire to a redoubt. The French who filled it, waiting until the Battalion was within a few yards, then opened a murderous fire, which checked the Riflemen and obliged them for a moment to retire. But the 52nd at that moment coming up in support, they again advanced, and together they cleared the redoubt of its defenders and drove them before them to a second line of works. Here they did not experience any serious resistance. But at the crest the enemy had constructed a formidable work, from which they not only poured forth a blaze of fire, but rolled great pieces of rock on the climbing soldiers. While these were endeavouring to storm the work, the 1st Battalion, with the first brigade, gained the top of the pass on their right; and the enemy’s left flank being thus turned, and his retreat threatened, he abandoned the entrenchment and retired down the reverse slope of the mountain.

As the French were retiring a curious circumstance took place. Colonel Colborne, accompanied by a small escort of Riflemen of the 2nd Battalion, came suddenly on a battery of mountain guns and some three hundred men, who were retreating from the right flank of the French position. He called to them peremptorily to lay down their arms, which they did, thinking he had a large force at hand.

The loss of the 2nd Battalion was very severe, amounting to nearly one-third of its strength. They fell principally at the Star redoubt, which they first attacked. Captain Gibbons, Lieutenants Alexander Campbell and John Hill, 4 sergeants, and 23 rank and file were killed; Captain Hart, Lieutenants Budgen, Ridgeway, Fry and Madden, 6 sergeants, and 128 rank and file were wounded; and 1 Rifleman was returned ‘missing.’ The 1st Battalion had 10 Riflemen wounded; and the 3rd Battalion 4 killed and Lieutenant Vickers and 17 wounded.

The Regiment, now encamped on the ridge, looked over the steppes of the Pyrenees and the vast plain at their feet. St. Jean-de-Luz seemed also beneath them, and Bayonne could be seen in the distance; while the Bay of Biscay bounded their view to the left, and a richly-tilled and well-wooded country stretched away far to their right.

Towards evening the 3rd Battalion went down into the plain below on outpost duty, relieving Longa’s Spanish troops.

The whole range of mountains was now in our occupation, except one: the extreme projection on the right called La Montagne d’Arrhune. This the French retained till the 8th; the Spaniards not having succeeded in dislodging them. On that day the second brigade of the Light Division having been sent to assist in carrying it, the enemy evacuated it, and it was thenceforth occupied by a picquet of three companies of the Light Division.

Beyond it was an outlier separated by a valley, and called ‘La Petite Arrhune,’ though itself a mountain of very considerable elevation. This the French occupied; and their advanced sentries were posted at the foot of the slope, and ours on the opposite slope of the valley, not more than 200 yards apart.