Note 52 — ACTIONS OF THE PYRENEES. 28th. July to 2nd. August, 1813.

In this desperate combat in the Pass of Maya, the 6th., 28th., 34th., 50th., 71st., 82nd., and 92nd. regiments had opportunities of distinguishing themselves. The latter having been hotly engaged for ten successive hours, and in want of ammunition, was ordered by Lieutenant-General the Honourable William Stewart not to charge, and the gallant Highlanders, for the first time, disregarded orders, not only charging, but leading the charge. Lieutenant-Colonel Cameron, of the 92nd., who commanded the first brigade, was permitted by his Sovereign to bear on his shield the word Maya in commemoration of this action. The 92nd. had thirty-four men killed and two hundred and sixty-eight men wounded; one officer was killed, and eighteen officers were wounded, one of whom died of wounds. Sir William Napier, in his history of the Peninsula War, has remarked that “so dreadful was the slaughter, especially of the 92nd., that it is said the advancing enemy was actually stopped by the heaped mass of dead and dying. The stern valour of the 92nd., principally composed of Scotchmen, would have graced Thermopylæ.”