Part 3
Advancing into Spain, the allied army drove a French corps from the city of _Salamanca_, which was taken possession of amidst the rejoicings of the inhabitants, and the SIXTY-FIRST Regiment was one of the corps employed in the siege of the forts of San Vincente, St. Cajetano, and La Merced, in which the French had left garrisons. On the night of the 22nd of June the light company was engaged in an attempt to capture St. Cajetano and La Merced by escalade, when Captain JOHN OWEN led the assault with distinguished gallantry; he had gained the top of one of the ladders, and was in the act of entering the fort, when he was shot through the left arm, which was dreadfully shattered, and the next moment another shot in the shoulder precipitated him into the ditch. Private _Charles Carr_ saw his Captain fall, and leaping into the ditch under a heavy fire raised the fallen Captain,--called a comrade to his aid, and they carried their officer to a place of safety. The attack failed. Captain Owen was promoted to the rank of major, and on receiving the usual pension for the loss of his arm, he settled an annuity upon Private Charles Carr.
The regiment sustained considerable loss on this occasion in killed and wounded, and among the latter was Lieutenant Given.
Some delay took place in the capture of the convents, from the want of ammunition; but a supply having been received, they were reduced before the end of June.
From Salamanca the regiment advanced to the banks of the Douro, and when the French army passed the river and advanced, the British fell back a few stages.
On the 22nd of July, the opposing armies manœuvred near _Salamanca_, and the French commander making a faulty movement, the British general ordered his divisions forward and commenced the battle. For some time the SIXTY-FIRST were formed, with their division, behind the village of Arapiles, to support the fourth division, which was engaged upon a rising ground beyond the village; the regiment was exposed to a heavy cannonade; and the village was soon in flames from the bursting of shells. The fourth division being pressed by very superior numbers, the sixth division advanced at a running pace to its support, and on passing the village of Arapiles the SIXTY-FIRST opened their fire; but the French soldiers were so mingled with the men of the fourth division, that the regiment ceased firing for fear of destroying friends as well as enemies. The French carried the hill, and, elated with success, rushed forward with great impetuosity; but the Eleventh and SIXTY-FIRST gave three cheers, fired a volley, and charged with bayonets with so much resolution that the torrent of battle was arrested, and, after a desperate effort, the French were overpowered, and the hill was re-captured. Lieut.-Colonel Barlow, Major Downing, eight other officers, and about a hundred soldiers had fallen; but the survivors pressed upon their opponents with the bayonet until ordered to halt on the low ground beyond the hill. The French rallied under a cloud of skirmishers, and appeared intent on attempting to recover the hill. At this moment the regiment was exposed to the fire of a number of sharpshooters, and a numerous artillery, it was threatened with a charge of infantry, and a hostile body of cavalry was manœuvring on its left, yet it was as steady as on an ordinary parade; the surviving officers and soldiers formed four divisions two deep, and prepared to charge with their gallant associates of the Eleventh Regiment. Colonel Napier states, in his _History of the Peninsular War_,--“The struggle was no slight one. The men of General Hulse’s brigade, which was on the left, went down by hundreds, and the SIXTY-FIRST and Eleventh Regiments won their way desperately, and through such a fire as British soldiers only can sustain.” The southern ridge was regained, and “the reserve of Boyer’s dragoons coming on at a canter, were met and broken by the fire of Hulse’s noble brigade. Then the changing current of the fight once more set for the British.” In this second advance the Eleventh and SIXTY-FIRST drove the enemy before them a considerable distance. The two regiments then halted, and being within range of the enemy’s artillery, Major-General Hulse directed the men to sit down; but the French fire occasioned many casualties, and the major-general called the commanding officers of regiments forward and directed them to acquaint their men with his intention of attacking the heights in front. This was answered by three cheers from the surviving officers and men, and an immediate advance, under a destructive fire from the French artillery and skirmishers; but the brigade pressed gallantly forward and speedily gained the summit. The French formed column. The Eleventh and SIXTY-FIRST changed front, and opening their fire, soon forced the enemy to retire. The officers and serjeants with the colours of the SIXTY-FIRST fell under the enemy’s fire, when the colours were seized by Privates _William Crawford_ and _Nicholas Coulson_, who carried them to the top of the hill. Crawford was instantly promoted to serjeant; the same rank was offered to Coulson, but he answered that he was over-rewarded already by the cheers and thanks of his comrades, and the approbation of his officers. Serjeant Crawford fell a sacrifice to his gallantry in a subsequent engagement.
Lieutenants Wolfe and Armstrong took charge of the colours, and the regiment continued to advance. The sixth division was engaged towards the close of the action, in forcing the French from the last height on which they ventured to make a stand: and when darkness put an end to the fight, the British were victorious at every part of the field; at the same time the broken remains of the French army were hurrying from the scene of disaster in confusion.
The loss of the SIXTY-FIRST on this occasion was very severe,--Lieut.-Colonel Barlow, Captains Stubbs, Horton, and Favell, Lieutenants Chawner and Parker, Ensign Bere, three serjeants, one drummer, and thirty-five rank and file, killed; Major Downing, Captains Oke, McLeod, and Greene, Lieutenants Falkner, Daniel, Chapman, Chipchase, Furnace, Gloster, Collis, Wolfe, Brackenbury, Royal, and Toole, Ensigns White and Singleton, twenty-two serjeants, one drummer, and two hundred and eighty rank and file, wounded. Major Downing died of his wounds[5].
Captain Annesley, who commanded the regiment at the close of the action, received a gold medal; and the word “SALAMANCA” was inscribed on the colours, by royal authority, to commemorate its distinguished gallantry on this memorable occasion.
Shortly after the battle of Salamanca the command of a brigade in the fifth division was conferred on Major-General Hulse, who took leave of the brigade he had previously commanded in the following orders:--“His Excellency the Commander of the Forces having been pleased to remove Major-General Hulse to the command of a brigade in the fifth division, the major-general cannot leave the officers and soldiers of the brigade he had the honor and happiness to command for nearly two years, without assuring them how fully satisfied he has ever been with their excellent conduct, both in quarters and in the field, during that period. The major-general wishes, most pointedly, to express how much he feels indebted to them for their steadiness and determined courage displayed in the action of the 22nd instant. It will ever be to him a source of the greatest pride to have had the honor to command them on that glorious day. Never did British troops acquit themselves in a more gallant style! and Major-General Hulse hopes all will accept his best thanks for their exemplary conduct, and his warmest wishes for their future welfare.”
After pursuing the broken remains of the French army to Valladolid, the British General marched to Madrid, leaving the SIXTY-FIRST, and a few other corps, at the town of Cuellar, situate on the declivity of a hill in the province of Segovia. The French army being reinforced, advanced down the Pisuerga valley, when the British infantry removed to Arevalo, and the French took possession of Valladolid. Lord Wellington returning from Madrid, the French again retreated, and the British advanced up the beautiful Pisuerga and Arlanzan valley to _Burgos_, and commenced the siege of the castle, in which service the SIXTY-FIRST were engaged; many of the officers and soldiers having recovered of their wounds, were again at the post of honor, and the regiment mustered about two hundred men, under Captains Sparrow, Greene, and Annesley, Lieutenants McLean, Furnace, Wolfe, Armstrong, and Harris. Lieutenant Stuart was attached to the engineer department, and was severely wounded.
For a short time the regiment was encamped about a mile from the fortress, but afterwards removed to the Hopital del Rey. Captain Annesley and a party of the regiment distinguished themselves at the storming of the outworks on the 4th of October, for which they were thanked in orders by Colonel Bingham, the field officer on duty in the trenches at the time. The distinguished gallantry of Private Edmonstone, on this occasion, was rewarded with the rank of serjeant.
On one occasion, the post occupied by a small piquet, under Lieutenant Armstrong, was destroyed by a mine, which killed and wounded two-thirds of the piquet; the enemy at the same time making a sortie. The lieutenant was thrown some distance by the explosion, but was not seriously injured; and he took possession, with the surviving men, of some houses, and by a steady fire forced the French to retire within their works;--Lieutenant Armstrong humorously observing, “My cloak is on the post, and the French shall not even possess that as a trophy.” On another occasion, Lieutenant Harris and a party of the regiment evinced great intrepidity on the glacis.
The concentration of the enemy’s numerous forces rendered it necessary for the British to raise the siege of Burgos Castle and retire, and the SIXTY-FIRST shared in the fatigues and privations of this retrograde movement. On one occasion the light company, under Lieutenant Wolfe, was employed in retarding the passage of a river by the enemy; and the regiment also aided in the destruction of one of the bridges across the Douro. The regiment arrived at the frontiers of Portugal, without losing more than one man during the retreat. It proceeded into quarters under the orders of Lieut.-Colonel Coghlan; and was joined by a strong detachment from the second battalion during the winter.
[Sidenote: 1813]
The progress of military organization in Portugal and Spain, with the arrival of reinforcements from England, enabled the British commander to take the field in May, 1813, with a formidable army. He drove the French from Salamanca, turned their positions on the Douro, and forced them back in disorder upon Burgos, when they destroyed the castle and retreated to the Ebro, the passage of which river they were prepared to defend; but he turned their position by a flank march, and obliged them to fall back upon Vittoria, where they formed for battle. The sixth division was left behind at Medina de Pomar, to cover the march of the magazines, and the SIXTY-FIRST were thus prevented sharing in the victory at Vittoria on the 21st of June. They were sufficiently near to hear the firing, and arrived at the field of battle on the following day, to take charge of the captured artillery and stores.
The regiment was subsequently employed in attempting to intercept the French division under General Clausel, and when this force had escaped to France, the regiment proceeded to Pampeluna, to take part in the blockade of that fortress, from which duty it was relieved by a Spanish corps, on the 14th of July, and advanced into the Pyrenean Mountains to San Estevan, situated in a beautiful valley, where it halted. Thus, after marching nearly six hundred miles in seven weeks, passing six great rivers, gaining one decisive battle, and investing the two fortresses of Pampeluna and San Sebastian, the allied army stood triumphant on the lofty Pyrenees, and the officers and soldiers panted for opportunities to acquire additional honors.
The French army having been reinforced, and reorganized, advanced under Marshal Soult, and attacked the British posts in the mountains, when the allied army fell back to a position in front of Pampeluna. The sixth division, to which the SIXTY-FIRST continued to belong, quitted San Estevan to support the troops first attacked; but when advancing, Lord Wellington rode up to the division, and ordered it to halt for the night. It afterwards retired through the mountain passes, and bivouacked, during the night of the 27th of July, in a pine-wood. At daybreak on the following morning it resumed its march, and joining the army in position in the mountains, formed for battle across the valley in the rear of the left of the fourth division, its right on the village of Oricain, and its left on some heights.
Soon after the regiment had taken its post, columns of attack were seen in motion to commence the battle of the _Pyrenees_, where the SIXTY-FIRST had another opportunity of distinguishing themselves. A body of French troops moved along the valley of Lanz towards the mountain at its extremity, and the SIXTY-FIRST, with two other British corps, were ordered to move at a running pace and occupy the mountain. The SIXTY-FIRST hastened up the hill on one side, as the French skirmishers ascended on the other; but the British gained the summit first, and opened their fire with terrible effect. The French were encompassed in the valley; two brigades smote them from the left, the Portuguese smote them from the right, and the sixth division forced them back with a terrible carnage. The enemy retreated behind the village of Sauroren. The SIXTY-FIRST, and two other regiments, advanced to a post near the village, and the fire of small-arms was kept up until dark.
No serious fighting occurred on the 29th of July; but on the morning of the 30th the British batteries opened from the heights, and a cloud of skirmishers advanced against Sauroren. The firing at this point afterwards subsided; but was eventually renewed, and the SIXTY-FIRST had the honor to participate in storming the village and heights of Sauroren, and in forcing the French from a position, which, from its natural strength and advantages, appeared almost impregnable. The pursuit was continued until night, and many prisoners were taken.
The regiment had seventy men killed and wounded; Captains Charleton and McLean, Lieutenants Wolfe and O’Kearney, and Volunteer Leebody, were wounded.
Lieut.-Colonel Coghlan received a gold medal; and the word “PYRENEES” was placed upon the colours of the regiment, as a mark of royal approbation of its gallant conduct.
Continuing the pursuit of the enemy to the extremity of the Pyrenees, the regiment ascended the summit of one of the highest mountains on the 2nd of August, and as the soldiers beheld the beautiful plains of France, which Napoleon had often declared to be inviolable, spread in rich landscape scenery before them, they experienced emotions of exultation in the anticipation of future conquests. In the afternoon the regiment encamped on a piece of high ground, surrounded by inaccessible rock, the only entrance to which was through a chasm; a beautiful stream ran along the hollow below, with a cannon foundry on its banks. Two days afterwards it marched to the vale of Los Alduides: and afterwards penetrated France some distance; but withdrew towards Maya, and relieved the second division on the heights commanding the pass of Maya, where the soldiers threw up breastworks. The prospect from these heights was particularly interesting: on the left was seen the sea, and the fortress of Bayonne; on the right the thickly wooded plains of Gascony, interspersed with towns and villages; in front was the French army; and in the rear of the right and left, the lofty Pyrenees crowned with the tents of the British army.
On the 1st of September the division drove the enemy from two heights in its front; and on the 9th of October, it again attacked the French, to favour the operations of the British troops which had passed the Bidassoa. Three companies of the SIXTY-FIRST were engaged on this occasion.
Invigorated by the mountain air, and impatient to win the fair plains of France before them, the soldiers received with joyful anticipations the orders to advance, and attack the enemy’s positions on the _Nivelle_. The SIXTY-FIRST descended from the mountains by moonlight on the night of the 9th of November, and lay concealed near the enemy’s piquets until the following morning. The day broke with great splendour, and as the first rays of light gilded the summits of the mountains, three guns gave the signal for the attack, and the French beheld with astonishment the allied army rise from its concealment, and rush to battle with an impetuosity they were not prepared to withstand. The SIXTY-FIRST passed the Nivelle river, and marched through a rugged country towards the bridge of Amotz, to attack the works at that place; the skirmishers of the regiment were in front under Lieutenant Harris. Advancing up a difficult ascent, covered with bushes, under a sharp fire, the regiment drove a body of French troops from a semicircular breastwork; several officers of the regiment outran the men, who had knapsacks to carry, and first jumped into the works:--Captain William Henry Furnace, who had repeatedly distinguished himself, fell a sacrifice to his gallantry; and Lieutenant Christopher Kellet was killed about the same time. The regiment pressed resolutely forward to storm a redoubt at the top of the hill; its commanding officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Coghlan, received a shot through the cap, which grazed the top of his head,--several officers and men fell, but the regiment continued its rapid advance, and Lieutenant Harris jumped across the ditch of the redoubt, when the French fled in dismay, and many of them were intercepted in the rear of the redoubt. Lieutenant-General Sir Rowland Hill came up to the regiment, and thanked the officers and soldiers repeatedly for the very gallant manner in which they had ascended under the enemy’s fire. A second redoubt was captured at this part of the enemy’s line, and afterwards a third. The SIXTY-FIRST penetrated the enemy’s camp, which had been abandoned and set on fire. The light company of the regiment was detached on this occasion, and distinguished itself. A decisive victory was gained, and the British army established itself in the French territory. Captains James Horton, Marcus Annesley, and Hugh Eccles, Lieutenants Robert Belton, and Archer Toole, were all severely wounded.
Lieutenant-Colonel Coghlan received an honorary distinction; Major Oke was promoted to the rank of lieut.-colonel; and the gallantry displayed by the regiment on this occasion, was rewarded with the word “NIVELLE” on its colours.
After this success, the regiment occupied quarters at Ustaritz, which was found an agreeable change; the bleak summits of the mountains, on which it had been long stationed, having become extremely cold. The moral and physical energies of the men were in full power, and nothing could have withstood their conquering progress had the weather been favourable.
Early in December a forward movement was ordered; and on the morning of the 9th of that month a beacon lighted on the heights above Cambo gave the signal for the attack, when the passage of the river _Nive_ was forced, and the enemy driven back towards Bayonne. The sixth division passed the river on floating bridges. The advanced-guard (in which was the light company of the SIXTY-FIRST, formed in a light battalion under Captain Greene, of the regiment,) evinced great gallantry, and surprised the first French piquet, which fled in dismay. Some sharp fighting occurred; Captain Greene was wounded, and Captain Charleton was sent from the regiment to take command of the light battalion. The swampy nature of the country retarded the advance of the division, and gave time for the French troops to effect their retreat towards Bayonne. The enemy advanced and attacked the British troops on the three following days, but were repulsed.
At the passage of the “NIVE” the regiment earned another honorary inscription for its colours; and Captain Greene received a medal. Its loss was limited to Captains Greene and Charleton wounded, and a few private soldiers killed and wounded.
[Sidenote: 1814]
The regiment was stationed at Ville-Franque from the middle of November until the 22nd of February, 1814, assisting in the blockade of _Bayonne_. On one occasion, when the regiment had gone out for field exercise, leaving the officers, bât-men, pioneers, and the quartermaster-serjeant in quarters, a heavy fall of rain so swelled the stream of the Nive, that the pontoon-bridge of communication was detached from its moorings, and was seen floating down the stream. Quartermaster-Serjeant Rose (who distinguished himself at Talavera) and Private Thomas Dawson got hold of the bridge, and, at the hazard of their lives, succeeded in securing it, by which much inconvenience to the service was prevented. The quartermaster-serjeant was rewarded with a commission, and a sum of money was given to Private Dawson.
Quitting Ville-Franque, the regiment advanced up the country, and passing the river near Bereux, by a pontoon-bridge, on the morning of the 27th of February, it afterwards ascended by a narrow way between high rocks to the great road to Peyrehorade, which brought it into the presence of the French army, under Marshal Soult, in position near _Orthes_. The action commenced in the forenoon. The third and sixth divisions won, without difficulty, the lower part of the ridges opposed to them, and endeavoured to extend their left along the French front with a sharp fire of musketry. On the other flank the French defended their post with more resolution. During the early part of the day, the skirmishers only of the SIXTY-FIRST were engaged, and the regiment was in reserve; when the French army gave way, two fine battalions were seen attempting to cover the retreat, and Lieut.-Colonel Coghlan led the SIXTY-FIRST Regiment against them at a running pace. The two battalions fired a volley and retreated, pursued by the British light cavalry.
Lieut.-Colonel Coghlan received another honorary distinction for this battle; and the word “ORTHES,” on the colours, commemorates the gallant bearing of the regiment on this occasion. Its loss was limited to one serjeant and ten men, killed and wounded.
Pursuing the retreating enemy on the following day, the regiment took some prisoners, and, being in advance, discovered part of the French army on an eminence near St. Sever; the enemy again retreated after dark, and was followed on the succeeding days. On one occasion the regiment lost a serjeant and seven men in a skirmish; and Lieutenant Furnace, of the light company, had a narrow escape, a ball having passed through the collar of his coat.
The regiment again came up with the enemy on the 16th of March, near Tarbes, and had a few men wounded. The weather was fine, the soldiers healthy, vigorous, and animated with their uninterrupted career of success, so that they were ready for any service; but the French continued their retreat without hazarding a serious engagement.