A column of 1500 or 1600 men was separated from the main body, driven down the other side of the ridge, and a number taken prisoners; most of those who escaped were intercepted by the sixth division, which was further in advance on another line. After the 74th had gained the ridge, another regiment from the third division was sent to support it, and pursued the remainder of the column until it had surrendered to the sixth division. Sir Frederick Stoven, Adjutant-General of the third division, who, along with some of the staff came up at this moment, said he never saw a regiment behave in such a gallant manner.
The regiment was highly complimented by the staff of the division for its conspicuous gallantry on this occasion, which was noticed as follows by Lord Wellington, who said in his despatch,—
“I cannot sufficiently applaud the conduct of all the general officers, officers, and troops, throughout these operations, &c.
“The movement made by Sir Thomas Picton merited my highest commendation; the latter officer co-operated in the attack of the mountain by detaching troops to his left, in which Lieutenant-Colonel the Hon. Robert Trench was wounded, but I hope not seriously.”
The regiment on this occasion sustained a loss of 1 officer, Captain Whitting, 1 sergeant, and 4 rank and file killed, and 5 officers, Lieut.-Colonel the Hon. Robert Le Poer Trench, Captain (Brevet-Major) Moore, and Lieutenants Pattison, Duncomb, and Tew, 4 sergeants, and 36 rank and file wounded.
The French were finally driven across the Bidassoa into France in the beginning of August.
At the successful assault of the fortress of San Sebastian by the force under Sir Thomas Graham, and which was witnessed by the 74th from the summit of one of the neighbouring mountains, Brevet Major Thomson of the 74th, was employed as an acting engineer, and received the brevet rank of Lieutenant-Colonel for his services.
After various movements the third division advanced up the pass of Zagaramurdi, and on the 6th October encamped on the summit of a mountain in front of the pass of Echalar; and in the middle of that month, Sir Thomas Picton having gone to England, the command of the third division devolved upon Major-General Sir Charles Colville. The 74th remained encamped on the summit of this bare mountain till the 9th of November, suffering greatly from the exposure to cold and wet weather, want of shelter, and scarcity of provisions, as well as from the harassing piquet and night duties which the men had to perform. Major Alves[448] says in his journal that the French picquets opposite to the position of the 74th were very kind and generous in getting the soldiers’ canteens filled with brandy,—for payment of course.
Pamplona having capitulated on the 31st of October, an attack was made upon the French position at the Nivelle on the 10th of November, a detailed description of which has been given in the history of the 42nd. The third, along with the fourth and seventh divisions, under the command of Marshal Beresford, were dispersed about Zagaramurdi, the Puerto de Echellar, and the lower parts of these slopes of the greater Rhune, which descended upon the Sarre. On the morning of the 10th, the third division, under General Colville, descending from Zagaramurdi, moved against the unfinished redoubts and entrenchments covering the approaches to the bridge of Amotz on the left bank of the Nivelle, and formed in conjunction with the sixth division the narrow end of a wedge. The French made a vigorous resistance, but were driven from the bridge, by the third division, which established itself on the heights between that structure and the unfinished redoubts of Louis XIV. The third division then attacked the left flank of the French centre, while the fourth and seventh divisions assailed them in front. The attacks on other parts of the French position having been successful, their centre was driven across the river in great confusion, pursued by the skirmishers of the third division, which crossed by the bridge of Amotz. The allied troops then took possession of the heights on the right bank of the Nivelle, and the French were compelled to abandon all the works which for the previous three months they had been constructing for the defence of the other parts of the position.