The NINETY-SECOND had Captain George W. Holmes wounded. Nine rank and file were killed, and twenty-six wounded.
The NINETY-SECOND advanced, and on the 31st of July, came up with the enemy strongly posted on a hill at Dona Maria, which could only be approached by a narrow ziz-zag road through very close underwood. In this favorable position the enemy made great resistance, but was ultimately driven from the heights, and his defeat was particularly ascribed to the persevering bravery individually displayed in the ranks of the NINETY-SECOND regiment.
Lieut.-General Sir Rowland Hill, under whose eye the battalion was this day engaged, bestowed the most flattering encomiums on its gallantry. On this occasion Major McPherson was wounded, and Captain James Seaton assumed the command. Captains James Lee and Dugald Campbell, Lieutenant James Hope, and Ensign Thomas Mitchell, were also wounded. Ten rank and file were killed, and sixty-nine wounded.
After carrying this post, the NINETY-SECOND moved towards Lanz, and, on the 1st of August, marched through the pass at Lanz to Ariscun, and on the 2nd, again occupied the heights of Maya.
The royal authority was subsequently granted for the NINETY-SECOND to bear the word “Pyrenees” on the regimental colour and appointments, to commemorate the services of the first battalion in these combats, which have been designated the “Battles of the Pyrenees.” Medals, bearing the word “Pyrenees,” were conferred on Major John McPherson and Captain James Seaton; and the former was promoted to the brevet rank of Lieut.-Colonel.
The effective strength of the NINETY-SECOND was now reduced to twenty-seven serjeants, fifteen drummers, and three hundred and twenty rank and file. The battalion marched on the evening of the 2nd of August to the village of Erassu, and on the 5th reoccupied the heights of Maya.
On the 8th of August, the NINETY-SECOND marched from Maya to the valley of Alduides, and the next day to Roncesvalles, between which place and the heights of Don Carlos, the battalion remained encamped until the beginning of November.
In the meantime, St. Sebastian and Pampeluna had been captured, and the British commander, looking down from the lofty Pyrenees on the well-guarded territory of France, resolved to carry the war into the heart of that country.
On the 7th of November, the enemy made an attempt to cut off a piquet of the NINETY-SECOND, but was foiled. On the following day, the battalion marched from Roncesvalles to Alduides, and on the 9th proceeded through Maya to Urdax, in which neighbourhood the whole division was assembled.
The British army was put in motion at an early hour in the morning of the 10th of November, and advanced to attack the enemy in his fortified position on the Nivelle. The NINETY-SECOND, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Cameron, forded that river a little below Ainhoe, and was ordered to attack the strong redoubts on the heights immediately in rear of the village.