Historical record of the Ninety-second Regiment, originally termed "The Gordon Highlanders" and numbered the Hundredth Regiment

by Richard Cannon

Advancing early in the morning of the 8th of July, the French retired from their own frontier, which the pursuing troops occupied with three British cheers. The light troops continued the pursuit towards the village of Urdax.

On the 9th of July, the troops marched to the village of Maya. The siege of St. Sebastian was undertaken, and the garrison of Pampeluna was closely invested by the Spaniards at this period.

Upon Napoleon receiving the news of the defeat of the French at Vittoria, he immediately sent Marshal Soult to Spain, with the rank of “Lieutenant of the Emperor,” and the Marshal assumed the command of the army of Spain on the 12th of July. All his energies were directed to retrieve its disasters, and to drive the British across the Ebro.

On the 13th of July, the first brigade, at this period under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Cameron, of the NINETY-SECOND, marched to occupy the heights of Maya.

The effective strength of the battalion, under the command of Major James Mitchell, consisted of forty serjeants, fifteen drummers, and seven hundred and sixty-two rank and file, on the 25th of July, on which day the fiftieth regiment was stationed on the right of the brigade, to the left of a pass leading to the village of Maya, which was occupied by a piquet from the second brigade.

The NINETY-SECOND were stationed in the Maya Pass, to the right of the road leading from Urdax, and the seventy-first regiment still further to the left. The enemy collected a force of about fifteen thousand men behind some rocky ground in front of the British right, and with this overwhelming force drove in the light companies of the second brigade, gaining the high rock on the right of the allied position before the arrival of the second brigade from Maya, which was, therefore, compelled to retrace its steps towards the village, instead of falling back to its left on the first brigade.

Lieut.-Colonel Cameron, detached the fiftieth to the right the moment the action commenced. That regiment was severely engaged, and was forced to retire along the ridge; the right wing of the NINETY-SECOND, under Major John McPherson, was sent to its support, and for some time had to stand the whole brunt of the enemy’s column. The right wing of the seventy-first regiment was also brought up, but such was the advantage of the position the enemy had gained by separating the two brigades, and in a manner descending upon the Pass of Maya, while a fresh division was pushing up to it from the direction of Urdax, that the small body of troops received orders to retire to a high rock on the left of the position.

This movement was covered by the left wings of the seventy-first and NINETY-SECOND regiments, which, relieving each other with the utmost order and regularity, and disputing every inch of ground, left nothing for the enemy to boast of. The brigade continued to hold the rock until the arrival of Major-General Edward Barnes’s brigade, when a general charge was made, and every inch of ground recovered as far as the Maya Pass.

On this occasion the NINETY-SECOND was ordered by Lieut.-General the Honorable Sir William Stewart not to charge, the battalion having been hotly engaged for ten successive hours, and in want of ammunition. The NINETY-SECOND, however, for the first time disregarded an order, and not only charged, but led the charge.

During the whole of the action on the 25th of July, the conduct of the NINETY-SECOND was most noble and devoted; and in commemoration of which His Majesty was pleased to permit Lieut.-Colonel Cameron to bear on his shield the word “Maya.” Lieut.-Colonel John Cameron and Major James Mitchell were both wounded at the head of the battalion, and the command devolved on Major John McPherson, who was also wounded, but did not leave the field. The other officers wounded were Captains George W. Holmes, Ronald McDonald, and Samuel Bevan, Lieutenants William Fyfe, Donald McPherson, John A. Durie, James John Chisholm, Robert Winchester, Donald McDonald, James Ker Ross, George Gordon, John Grant, and Alexander McDonald, (died) and Ensigns Thomas Mitchell and George Mitchell.