PASSAGE OF THE NIVE. 9th. to 13th. December, 1813.
Reading edition
After the retreat of the French from the Nivelle, they occupied a position in front of Bayonne, which had, since the battle of Vittoria, been entrenched with great labour. The bad state of the roads, and the swelling of the rivulets from the fall of rain, had prevented the Marquis of Wellington from at once passing the Nive.[59] The state of the weather and roads at length enabled the British commander to collect the materials, and make preparations for forming the necessary bridges. The troops moved out of their cantonments on the 8th. of December, and Lieutenant-General Sir Rowland Hill, with the right of the army, crossed on the 9th. at, and in the neighbourhood of Cambo, Marshal Sir William Beresford supporting the operation by passing the sixth division, under Lieutenant-General Sir Henry Clinton, at Ustaritz; 172both operations succeeded completely. The enemy were immediately driven from the right bank of the river, and retired towards Bayonne, by the great road of St. Jean Pied de Port. Those posted opposite Cambo were nearly intercepted by the sixth division, and one regiment, being driven from the road, was compelled to march across the country.
On the morning of the 10th. of December the enemy moved out of the entrenched camp with their whole army, with the exception only of that portion which occupied the works opposite to Sir Rowland Hill’s position, and drove in the pickets of the light division, when an action ensued, the brunt of which fell upon the first Portuguese brigade under Major-General Arch. Campbell, and upon Major-General Robinson’s brigade of the fifth division, which moved up in support.
When night closed the French were still in great force in front of the British posts, on the ground from which they had driven the pickets. During the night they retired from Lieutenant-General Sir John Hope’s front, leaving small posts, which were immediately driven in. About three in the afternoon they again drove in that officer’s pickets, and attacked his posts, but were once more repulsed with considerable loss.
On the morning of the 12th. the attack was re-commenced by the enemy with the same want of success, the first division under Major-General Howard, having relieved the fifth division; the enemy discontinued it in the afternoon, and retired entirely within the entrenched camp on that night. After the 10th. the attack was never renewed on the posts of the light division.
It was not until the 12th. of December that the first division, under Major-General Howard, was engaged, when the guards conducted themselves with their usual spirit.
Having thus failed in all the attacks with their whole force upon the British left, the enemy withdrew into their entrenchments on the night of the 12th., and passed a large force through Bayonne; with which, on the morning of the 13th. of December, a most desperate attack was made upon the troops under Lieutenant-General Sir Rowland Hill. In 173expectation of this the Marquis of Wellington had requested Marshal Sir William Beresford to reinforce the Lieutenant-General with the sixth division, which crossed the Nive at daylight on that morning; and a further reinforcement of the fourth division, with two brigades of the third, received orders to join Sir Rowland Hill. The troops under his immediate command had defeated the enemy with immense loss, before these succours arrived. Two guns and some prisoners were taken from the French, who, being beaten at all points, and having sustained considerable loss, were compelled to withdraw upon their entrenchment.
Soult’s objects were to gain the bridge of St. Pierre, to make himself master of the road to St. Jean Pied de Port, and to break through the position of the allies. For these purposes he put forth his whole strength, and was completely vanquished. Even before the sixth division arrived, Sir Rowland Hill had repulsed him with prodigious loss; and although he skilfully availed himself of a high ground in retreating, he could not stand against the famous charge of General Byng, and was entirely defeated. It was a battle fought and won by the corps of Sir Rowland Hill alone and unaided. At the instant of victory Lord Wellington came up, and in the ecstacy of the moment of triumph, caught him by the hand, and said, “Hill, the day is your own.”
The late Field-Marshal the Earl of Strafford, and Colonel of the Coldstream Guards, (then Major-General Byng,) highly distinguished himself in this action, wherein he led his troops, under a most galling fire, to the assault of a strong height occupied in great force by the enemy, and having himself ascended the hill first with the colour of the 31st. regiment of foot in his hand, he planted it upon the summit, and drove the enemy (far superior in numbers) down the ridge to the suburbs of St. Pierre, for which act he received the royal authority on the 4th. of July, 1815, to bear the following honourable augmentation, namely, “Over the arms of the family of Byng, in bend sinister, a representation of the colour of the 31st. regiment,” and the following crest, namely, “Out of a mural crown an arm embowed, grasping the colour of the aforesaid 31st. regiment, and, pendent from the wrist by a riband, the Gold Cross presented to him by His Majesty’s command, as a mark of his royal approbation of his distinguished services,” and in an escroll above, the word “Mouguerre,” being the name of a height near the hamlet of St. Pierre.
The following regiments took part in this action The 16th. Light Dragoons, 1st., 3rd., 4th., 9th., 11th., 28th., 31st., 32nd., 34th., 36th., 38th., 39th., 42nd., 43rd., 50th., 52nd., 57th., 59th., 60th., 61st., 62nd., 66th., 71st., 76th., 79th., 84th., 85th., 91st., and 92nd. Foot, and Rifle Brigade.
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