After this crowning victory, Lord Wellington undertook the sieges of San Sebastian and Pampeluna, and the 3rd Division was employed in the investment of the latter place; but being shortly after relieved by the 7th Division, it was formed in right support of the remainder of the army, which was so disposed as to cover the operations against these strong and important fortresses.
On the 25th and 26th of July, the French under Marshal Soult having, after a desperate struggle, forced the Roncesvalles and Maya Passes, General Picton moved his division up in support, and, forming in order of battle on the right of the 4th Division, in front of Huarte, and extending to the hills beyond Olaz, there awaited the further advance of the French.
In the ensuing hard-fought battles on the 27th and 28th July, the brunt of the fight fell to the good fortune of the 4th Division, and the 3rd was but slightly engaged. Its picquets and light infantry, however, skirmished with the enemy’s tirailleurs, and the division itself advancing on the right of the victorious 4th, turned the enemy’s left and completed his signal repulse. In this affair the battalion lost only 8 men wounded.
The French having been thus driven back, the siege of San Sebastian was prosecuted with redoubled vigour; and at last, after a second most sanguinary assault, the city was carried by storm. Pampeluna also having been reduced, the British general led his victorious troops from their lofty positions, and, descending from the snow-clad summits of the Pyrenees, launched them on the fair and fertile provinces of France.
On the 10th of November, 1813, 90,000 men descended to the fight, and, rushing simultaneously from various points on the entrenched and strongly fortified lines of the enemy, commenced the battle of Nivelle; and here again the “Fighting Third Division” signally availed itself of the glorious opportunity for distinction afforded it. Led by General Charles Colville (in the absence of Picton in England), the division attacked the left centre of the enemy’s position, and carrying everything before it, won the bridge of Amotz, and seizing the heights between that structure and the fortified redoubt called Louis XIV, established itself firmly on them. It then attacked the enemy in flank, while he was assailed in front by the 4th and 7th Divisions, stormed the redoubt, hurled the enemy headlong out of it, and, afterwards crossing the Nivelle, attacked him on the heights on that side of the river also, and gained triumphant and secure possession of them.
In this battle, as on former occasions, the 83rd was in the heat of the engagement, and proved itself worthy of the noble division to which it belonged.
Its casualties amounted to 10 rank and file killed, and 5 officers (Lieutenants Watson, Barry, and Wyatt, Ensigns Burgess and——[5]), and 28 rank and file wounded; and the royal authority has been received for the regiment to bear the word “Nivelle” on its colours and appointments, to commemorate its gallantry in that action.
The next service the regiment was employed in was the passage of the Gare d’Oleron, when the 3rd Division, under General Picton himself, attacked the ford above the bridge at Sanvetterre; the regiment, with the left brigade commanded by Colonel Keane, was in this encounter warmly engaged, and sustained a loss of 5 rank and file killed, and 12 rank and file wounded, and lost some prisoners from the Light Infantry, which had crossed the river.
At Orthes, on the 27th February, 1814, the 3rd Division was again in the very heat and brunt of battle, and highly distinguished itself, attacking the heights, on which the left and centre of the enemy were strongly posted. It, after severe fighting, gained possession of them, and with the simultaneous assaults of the 52nd Regiment on the left, dislodged the enemy from his position and secured the victory.
The loss of the 83rd in this action was severe, amounting to 1 sergeant, 10 rank and file killed, 9 officers (Lieutenant-Colonel Carr, Major Blaquiere, Captains Venables and Elliott, Lieutenants Baldwin, Watson, and Lane, Ensign Nugent and Adjutant Swinburne), with 1 sergeant, 1 drummer, and 28 rank and file wounded; and its conduct was so meritorious that Colonel Keane, in brigade orders, returned it and the 87th his thanks for their gallant behaviour, declaring that in this battle they had added to their already high reputation. On this occasion Captain Elliott, of the Light Company, was promoted to be brevet major, and received a medal, and his Majesty was graciously pleased to permit the word “Orthes” to be inscribed on the colours and appointments of the 83rd, to commemorate the service it performed in that battle.