Surtees being the only quartermaster up with the Regiment, was sent back to look for its baggage. He repassed Vittoria, and after a long search amongst the carriages of all descriptions which blocked up the road, at last found it. But it was impossible to get it forward, or to extricate it from that wonderful tangle of every kind of vehicle and impediment which blocked the road to and through Vittoria. Wherefore, directing those in charge of it where to find the Regiment next morning, he returned through Vittoria and joined the bivouack. For the tents had not come up. And men and officers slept by the camp fires, having supped on provisions obtained from the well-filled stores of the flying foe.
On this day 1 sergeant and 3 rank and file of the 1st Battalion were killed; and Lieutenant-Colonel Cameron, Lieutenants Cox, Hopwood, and Gairdner were severely, and Lister slightly, wounded; 1 sergeant and 36 privates were also wounded: of the 2nd Battalion, Captain Jenkins and 8 men were wounded: of the 3rd Lieutenant Campbell and 7 privates were killed, and 16 wounded.
One of the first who fell was Lieutenant Leckie Campbell, who was shot through the forehead at the affair in the early morning at Villodas. Colonel Cameron was so severely wounded in the thigh that he was obliged to proceed to England.
A man of the name of Hudson of the 1st Battalion (one of the deserters found in Ciudad Rodrigo, who had been pardoned) received a shot in the mouth, which knocked out several teeth, and passed out at the back of the ear; yet from this wound he recovered. I have mentioned the Spanish recruits who joined the Regiment. One of them, by name Blanco, in this battle was distinguished not only for his bravery, but for his cruelty; stabbing and cutting the wounded French whenever he came upon them. This so exasperated an old Rifleman that he felled him with the butt-end of his rifle. The other men could scarce withhold Blanco from stabbing him on the spot.
On the 22nd, about mid-day, the Regiment moved in pursuit of the French, but did not come up with them; and they bivouacked that night near Salvatierra.
On the 23rd the Regiment again started in pursuit at daylight, and arriving at the river Borunda, found the enemy posted on it. The wooden bridge over it had been set on fire. But some shrapnell shells fired by Ross’ guns soon made them move off. The Regiment then forded the river, and pressed the rear-guard so hard that they could not destroy the bridges they passed. They now set every village on fire, with a view of delaying our pursuit; the passage through the flaming villages and falling houses not being easy, and the country round them being generally enclosed. But this did not much delay the Riflemen. At Echarri-Aranaz they had a skirmish with the enemy’s voltigeurs; but they soon moved off. They came up with them again at the village of La Cuenca; here they drew up, but our Horse Artillery having opened upon them, they resumed their retreat through Huarte. The Regiment encamped at La Cuenca.
On the 24th at daylight they marched, the 3rd Battalion leading; and after proceeding eight or ten miles found the French rear-guard in a strong position on the side of a mountain behind the river Araquil. The banks were rocky and rugged, and the stream swollen by recent rains. A narrow bridge, therefore, afforded the sole passage. The 1st and 3rd Battalions of the Regiment were the only infantry up at the time. The two Battalions were halted; and the men were ordered to put their knapsacks behind the troopers of the German Legion (who accompanied them) in order that they might move more rapidly. Then the 3rd Battalion were ordered by General Alten to mount a hill to the left of the road in order to fire down upon the right of the French, while the 1st Battalion lined the banks of the river and opened a smart fire. Under this attack the enemy gave way; and our people crossing the bridge, pursued them in a kind of desultory skirmish for about two miles. But they retired slowly, and fighting hard, to enable the troops behind them to make good their retreat. The road by which they were moving soon struck the great road, the ‘Camino real,’ leading from Madrid to Pamplona. The enemy detached one battalion to the right, which moved down a valley and was soon out of sight. It was ascertained afterwards that they fancied that this valley had an outlet to the road further on, where they might take up a position to receive our people. At the end of about two miles, where there was a narrow pass between two overhanging rocks, the enemy halted, and soon advanced upon our two Battalions. A sharp attack now again took place; and the battalion which had left the road emerged from a wood among our skirmishers. It was roughly handled, and suffered severely before it regained the road. It seems that, finding no way out of the valley they had entered, they returned to help their companions.
At this moment two of Ross’ guns came up, and opened on them; and a general fight of all three arms (the Riflemen, the German hussars, and Ross’ guns) took place, which drove the French from their position, through the pass and on to the open country beyond. Here the road is carried on an embankment with very steep sides. And when they had proceeded about two miles, the fire of Ross’ guns killed two and wounded one of the horses of the French gun, an 8-pounder.[123] They were so hard pressed that they had no time to disentangle the horses, and they flung the gun, with the horses, over the embankment, here about fifteen feet deep. Thus the Riflemen, who had taken the first gun at Vittoria, took the last and only gun which the French carried off from that field. ‘The French entered Pamplona, therefore, with one howitzer only.’[124] The Riflemen (some of them mounted behind the troopers of the Royal Dragoons)[125] continued to pursue them till they were under the walls of that fortress; and they occupied that night the villages of Aldava, Santa Barafra, and Berrioplano.
On the 25th, at an early hour, the Regiment advanced towards Pamplona, and arriving about a mile and-a-half from it, they moved to the left, just out of range of the guns of the place, and proceeding by a mountain road to Villaba, encamped near that village.