First storm—five killed; privates Samuel Clarke, James Dunn, William Cormack, Jonathan Millar, and James Morris: one died of wounds, private Stephen Teaff.
Second storm—four killed; second-corporal Henry Logan, privates Peter Walsh, John Flannagan, and Hugh Borland: twenty-nine wounded, of whom one died, second-corporal William Dodds.
Correct particulars of the wounded from the opening of the operations until the last assault cannot be obtained. The three prisoners taken at the sortie were returned to the corps on the 8th September. Not allowed, during their confinement, to throw up cover for their own safety, they were exposed in the castle, in the yard of the magazine, to all the fury of the siege.
On the removal of the troops from St. Sebastian, the fifth company, second battalion, was left at the fortress. Under the orders of Captain Frank Stanway, royal engineers, it superintended a body of Spanish soldiers in reforming and restoring the fortifications. The company continued so employed for nearly five months after the abdication of Napoleon, and returned to Woolwich in September, 1814.
The remaining four companies moved with Lord Wellington’s army, having in charge the stores and matériel of the department. On the arrival of the pontoon train at Passages, a strong detachment of the corps was placed under the direction of Lieutenant Piper, R.E., to assist in the formation of the required bridges.
In the passage of the Bidassoa on the 7 th October, the sappers threw a pontoon bridge across the river near Irun. It was soon afterwards carried away by the tide; but, on being recovered, was speedily replaced.
About three miles higher up the river, at the foot of the Pyrenees, they also constructed a trestle bridge with a roadway of sleepers, covered by fascines and earth, under Captain Dickens, R.E. This bridge also was washed away by the violence of the current, and with it privates Owen Connor and John Nowlan, who at the time, were under the superstructure, fastening ropes from the land to the trestles to give stability to the bridge. Both these intrepid bridgemen, after a hard struggle, gained the shore.
The second company, second battalion, under Captain Pitts of the corps, was present in the action at Vera, and afterwards threw up a line of breastworks at the gorge of one of the passes through the mountains, and constructed several other works about the position.
At the battle of Nivelle, on the 10th of November, the four companies above mentioned were present but not actively engaged. Two or three small parties of the corps, however, had the honour of leading a strong force of the 27th regiment to the storming of a strong redoubt, under Lieutenant George West, R.E. They took with them long sand-bags, filled at the instant with fern, which they threw into the ditch; and jumping upon them, sprang to the parapet and entered the redoubt. Lance-corporal Edward Councill of the corps, led one of the detachments to the storm and dashed into the works with the foremost soldier, who was a sergeant of the 27th regiment.
On the 11th November the second company, second battalion, threw a trestle bridge across the Nivelle, below Sarre, constructed from materials obtained from a farmhouse, under the direction of Captain Pitts and Sub-Lieutenant Stratton.