Thus foiled in all his attempts, Soult resolved to change entirely his plan of operations, and accordingly, during the night of the 12th, he drew his army through Bayonne, and on the morning of the 13th attempted to force his way between the centre and right of the British position, at the head of 30,000 men. Advancing with great vigour and celerity, he might have succeeded, had not General Hill, with his usual promptitude and decision, ordered his troops on the flanks to support the centre. The enemy, after a violent struggle, were repulsed with great loss, and retired with such precipitation that they were out of reach before the arrival of the sixth division, which had been ordered up to support General Hill.
Whilst this contest was going on, General Byng’s brigade, supported by the Portuguese brigade under General Buchan, carried an important height, from which the enemy made several attempts to dislodge them, but being unsuccessful at all points, they at length retired to their entrenchments, whither they were followed by General Hill, who took up a parallel position. At the passage of the Nive the 42d had Captain George Stewart and Lieutenant James Stewart killed, and 11 rank and file wounded.
The inclemency of the weather, and a succession of heavy rains which had swelled the rivers and destroyed the roads, rendering farther movements impracticable for a time, Marshal Soult availed himself of the interruption thus given to the progress of the allied army to strengthen his position. The weather becoming favourable about the middle of February 1814, Lord Wellington began a series of movements with the view of inducing Soult to withdraw from his strong position, or, should he decline, to cut off his communication with France, by marching the allied army into the heart of that country. By these movements the British general obtained the command of the Adour, which obliged Soult, who obtained his supplies down that river from the interior, to withdraw from Bayonne in the direction of Daxe. He left, however, a strong garrison in the place.
Leaving General Hope to blockade Bayonne, Lord Wellington made a general movement with the right and centre of the army on the 24th of February. Next day they marched forward to dislodge the enemy from a position they had taken up on the Gave de Pau at Orthés. Between the extreme points of this position ran a chain of heights receding in a line, bending inwards, the centre of which was so retired as to be protected by the guns of both wings. On his left, Soult was supported in this strong position by the town and the river; his right rested on a commanding height in rear of the village of St Bois; whilst the centre, accommodating itself to the incurvation of the heights, described a horizontal reversed segment of a circle protected by the strong position of both wings.
In a short time every point was carried, but the enemy retired in a very orderly manner, firing by echelons of divisions, each covering the other as they retreated. Observing General Hill, who had just crossed the river, advancing upon their left flank, on the road from Orthés to St Sever, the enemy became at once apprehensive that they would be intercepted, and, instead of continuing their masterly retreat, they ran off at full speed, followed by their pursuers. The latter continued the chase for nearly three miles at a full trot, and the French at length breaking their lines, threw away their arms, and fled in all directions. The pursuit was continued however as far as Sault de Navailles, on reaching which the remains even of an army were no longer to be seen. The loss of the enemy was estimated at 8000 men in killed, wounded, and prisoners. The loss of the allies in killed and wounded amounted to about 1600. Of the 42d, Lieutenant John Innes was the only officer killed, besides 1 sergeant, and 3 rank and file. Major William Cowell, Captain James Walker, Lieutenants Duncan Stewart and James Brander, 5 sergeants, and 85 rank and file were wounded.
The French army, lately so formidable, was now broken and dispersed, and many of the soldiers, dispirited by their reverses, returned to their homes; others, for the first time, abandoned their standards, and went over to the allies. Soult, however, undismayed by these difficulties, collected the remains of that part of his army which still remained faithful, and exerted all his energies to arrest the progress of the victors, but his efforts were unavailing; and after sustaining a defeat at Ayre, where he attempted to cover the removal of considerable magazines, he retreated to Tarbes. All the western part of Gascony being thus left exposed to the operations of the allied army, Lord Wellington detached Marshal Beresford and Lord Dalhousie, with three divisions, to Bordeaux, which they entered amidst the acclamations of the inhabitants.
Having obtained reinforcements from Spain and England, Lord Wellington, after leaving 4000 men at Bordeaux under Lord Dalhousie, again put his army in motion. Soult attempted to make a stand at Vicq with two divisions, but he was driven from this position by General Picton with the third division, and forced to retire beyond Tarbes. With the apparent intention of disputing the farther advance of the allies, the Marshal concentrated his whole force at this point, but he was dislodged from this position by a series of combined movements. It was now discovered that the enemy were drawn up on two hills running parallel to those from which their advance had been driven, and it was farther ascertained that this commanding position could not be gained by an advance in front without a great sacrifice of men, reinforced as it had been by the troops driven from the heights in front. It was therefore determined to attack it on flank, but, before the necessary arrangements could be completed, night came on, and Soult taking advantage of the darkness, moved off towards Toulouse, whither he was followed next morning by the allies, who reached the banks of the Garonne on the 27th of March.
This river was much swollen by recent rains and the melting of the snow on the Pyrenees. There being only one bridge at Toulouse, and that being in possession of the enemy, it became necessary to procure pontoons to enable the army to pass. Whilst the necessary preparations were going on for this purpose, Marshal Soult made the most extraordinary exertions to put himself in a proper posture of defence. He was not even yet without hopes of success, and although it is generally believed that he was now aware of the abdication of Buonaparte, an event which, he must have known, would put an immediate end to the war, he was unwilling to let slip the only opportunity he now had of wiping off the disgrace of his recent defeats.
The city of Toulouse is defended by an ancient wall, flanked with towers. On three sides it is surrounded by the great canal of Languedoc and by the Garonne, and on the fourth side it is flanked by a range of hills close to the canal, over which pass all the roads on that side the town. On the summit of the nearest of these hills the French had erected a chain of five redoubts, between which and the defences of the town they formed entrenchments and lines of connection. These defences consisted of extensive field-works, and of some of the ancient buildings in the suburbs well fortified. At the foot of the height, and along one-half its length, ran the small river Ers, the bridges of which had all been destroyed; on the top of the height was an elevated and elongated plain in a state of cultivation, and towards the end next the town there stood a farm-house and offices. Some trenches had been cut around this house, and three redoubts raised on its front and left. Such was the field selected by Soult to redeem, if possible, by a last effort, his fallen reputation, and to vindicate the tarnished honour of the French arms.
Pontoons having been procured, part of the allied army crossed the Garonne on the 4th of April; but the melting of the snow on the Pyrenees, owing to a few days of hot weather, swelled the river so much that it became necessary to remove the pontoons, and it was not till the 8th that they could be replaced. On that day the whole army crossed the river, except General Hill’s division, which remained opposite the town in front of the great bridge, to keep the enemy in check on that side. From the insulated nature of the town, no mode of attack was left to Lord Wellington but to attempt the works in front.