The enemy endeavoured to rally in their retreat, but were driven from one position to another till the 2d of August, when the allies had regained all the posts they had occupied on the 25th of July, when Soult made his first attack. As the 92d or Gordon Highlanders was the Highland regiment which had the good fortune to be engaged in these brilliant attacks, in which they particularly distinguished themselves, the account of these operations might have been deferred till we come to give an account of the services of that excellent regiment; but as the omission of these details in this place would have broken the continuity of the narrative, it was deemed proper to insert them here.
After this second expulsion of the French beyond the Pyrenees, the siege of St Sebastian was resumed with redoubled energy. A continued fire was kept up from eighty pieces of cannon, which the enemy withstood with surprising courage and perseverance. At length a practicable breach was made, and on the morning of the 31st of August the troops advanced to the assault. The breach was extensive, but there was only one point at which it was possible to enter, and this could only be done by single files. All the inside of the wall to the height of the curtain formed a perpendicular scarp of twenty feet. The troops made the most persevering exertions to force the breach, and everything that bravery could attempt was repeatedly tried by the men, who were brought forward in succession from the trenches; but each time, on attaining the summit, all who attempted to remain were destroyed by a heavy fire from the entrenched ruins within, so that “no man outlived the attempt to gain the ridge.”[330] The moment was critical; but General Graham, with great presence of mind, directed his artillery to play against the curtain, so as to pass a few feet over the heads of the troops in the breach. The fire was directed with admirable precision, and the troops advanced with perfect confidence. They struggled unremittingly for two hours to force the breach, and, taking advantage of some confusion occasioned by an explosion of ammunition within the ramparts, they redoubled their efforts, and by assisting each other got over the walls and ruins. After struggling about an hour among their works, the French retreated with great loss to the castle, leaving the town, which was now reduced to a heap of ruins, in the possession of the assailants. This success was dearly purchased,—the loss of the allies, in killed and wounded, being upwards of 2000 men. Soult made an attempt to raise the siege, by crossing the Bidassoa on the very day the assault was made with a force of nearly 40,000 men; but he was obliged, after repeated attacks, to repass the river.
Having determined to carry the war into France, Lord Wellington crossed the Bidassoa at low water, near its mouth, on the 7th of October. After a series of successful operations, the allied army was established in the French territories; but as Pampluna still held out, the commander-in-chief delayed his advance for a time. Pampluna surrendered on the 31st of October, after a blockade of four months. Lord Wellington having now the whole allied force, amounting to upwards of 85,000 men, at his disposal, resolved to commence operations.
Since the battle of the Pyrenees, the French had occupied a position with their right towards the sea, at a short distance from St Jean de Luz, their centre on a village in Sare, and on the heights behind it, with their left resting on a stony height in the rear of Ainhoe. This position, strong by nature, had been rendered still stronger by art. The attack on the French lines was to be made in columns of divisions. In consequence of heavy falls of snow and rain, Lord Wellington was obliged to defer his attack till the 10th of November, on the morning of which day the allies moved forward against the enemy.
The attack was begun by General Cole’s division, which attacked and carried the principal redoubt in front of Sare with such rapidity, that several of the enemy were taken in it before it could be evacuated. Another redoubt on the left was carried in the same rapid manner by Lord Dalhousie’s division, commanded in his absence by Colonel Le Cor. General Cole’s division thereupon took possession of the village. General Alten having carried La Petite Rhune, the whole centre divisions united, and made a joint attack on the enemy’s principal position behind the village. Sir Thomas Picton’s division (now commanded in his absence by General Colville), and that of Le Cor, carried the redoubt on the left of the enemy’s centre. The light division advancing from La Petite Rhune, attacked the works in their front, supported by the 52d regiment, which, crossing with great rapidity a narrow neck of land, was here exposed to the fire of two flanking batteries, rushed up the hill with such impetuosity, that the enemy grew alarmed, and fled with precipitation.
Meanwhile the right, under General Hill, attacked the heights of Ainhoe. The attack was led by General Clinton’s division, which, marching on the left of five redoubts, forded the Nivelle, the banks of which were steep and difficult, and attacked the troops in front of the works. These were immediately driven back with loss, and General Hamilton joining in the attack on the other redoubt, the enemy hastily retired. The brigade of General Stewart’s division, under General Pringle, drove in the enemy’s picquets in front of Ainhoe, whilst General Byng’s brigade attacked and drove the enemy from the entrenchments, and from a redoubt farther to the left.
The enemy at length seeing further resistance hopeless, abandoned all their positions and works in front of St Jean de Luz and retired upon Bidart, after destroying all the bridges on the Lower Nivelle. In these successful and complicated movements, the allies had 21 officers and 244 soldiers killed, and 120 officers and 1657 soldiers wounded. Of the 42d regiment, Captain Mungo Macpherson and Lieutenant Kenneth Macdougall were wounded, one private only killed, and 2 sergeants and 23 rank and file wounded. The French lost 31 pieces of cannon, 1300 prisoners, and had a proportional number killed and wounded.
In consequence of the heavy rains and the destruction of the bridges, the allies were prevented from pursuing the enemy, who retired to an entrenched camp near Bayonne. The allied troops were cantoned between the Nivelle and the sea, and made preparations for dislodging the French from their new position; but the incessant rains, which continued till December, put an entire stop to all active movements. Having thrown bridges over the Nive in the beginning of December, Lord Wellington commenced operations on the 9th for the passage of that river. As the position of the enemy was considered too strong to be attacked in front, the commander-in-chief determined to make a movement to the right, and by thus threatening Soult’s rear, he hoped to induce him to abandon his position. Accordingly the allied army crossed the Nive at different points on the 9th. General Hope met with little opposition, and General Hill, who crossed by the ford of Cambo, was scarcely opposed. In danger of being intercepted by General Clinton’s division, which had crossed at Ustariz, the enemy retired in great haste, and assembled in considerable numbers at Villefranche, but they were driven from this post by the light infantry and two Portuguese regiments, under Colonels Douglas and Browne. General Hill next day took up a position with his division, with his left on Villefranche and his right on the Adour, in consequence of which he cut off the communication between Bayonne and St Jean Pied de Port. In this situation the French troops stationed at the latter place were forced to retire on St Palais.
Leaving a force to keep General Hill in check, Marshal Soult left his entrenched camp on the morning of the 10th, and making an impetuous attack on the light division of General Hope’s wing, drove back his outposts. Then establishing himself on a ridge between the corps of Baron Alten and Major-General Andrew Hay’s fifth division, he turned upon the latter, and attacked it with a determined bravery which it was almost impossible to withstand; but after an arduous struggle the enemy were repulsed by Brigadier-general Robinson’s brigade of the fifth division, and Brigadier-general Archibald Campbell’s Portuguese brigade. The enemy, no way discouraged by these repulses, renewed the attack about three o’clock, but with the same want of success.
During the night, Soult made dispositions for attacking the light division at Arcangues; but Sir John Hope perceiving his intention, moved towards the threatened point. Anticipated in this movement, the experienced Marshal again changed his dispositions to the left, but General Hope, equally on the alert, met him also in that direction. With the exception of some partial skirmishing between the outposts, no occurrence of any importance took place on the following day; but on the 12th the enemy renewed the attack on the left without success.