November 10th, 1813.
The fall of Pampeluna having, at length, left our further movements
unshackled by an enemy in the rear, preparations were made for an
attack on their position, which, though rather too extended, was
formidable by nature, and rendered doubly so by art.
Petite La Rhune was allotted to our division, as their first point of
attack; and, accordingly, the 10th being the day fixed, we moved to
our ground at midnight, on the 9th. The abrupt ridges in the
neighbourhood enabled us to lodge ourselves, unperceived, within
half-musket-shot of their piquets; and we had left every description
of animal behind us in camp, in order that neither the barking of dogs
nor the neighing of steeds should give indication of our intentions.
Our signal of attack was to be a gun from Sir John Hope, who had now
succeeded Sir Thomas Graham in the command of the left wing of the
army.
We stood to our arms at dawn of day, which was soon followed by the
signal-gun; and each commanding officer, according to previous
instructions, led gallantly off to his point of attack. The French
must have been, no doubt, astonished to see such an armed force spring
out of the ground almost under their noses; but they were,
nevertheless, prepared behind their entrenchments, and caused us some
loss in passing the short space between us; but the whole place was
carried within the time required to walk over it; and, in less than
half-an-hour from the commencement of the attack, it was in our
possession, with all their tents left standing.
Petite La Rhune was more of an outpost than a part of their position,
the latter being a chain of stupendous mountains in its rear; so that
while our battalion followed their skirmishers into the valley
between, the remainder of our division were forming for the attack on
the main position, and waiting for the co-operation of the other
divisions, the thunder of whose artillery, echoing along the valleys,
proclaimed that they were engaged, far and wide, on both sides of us.
About midday our division advanced to the grand attack on the most
formidable looking part of the whole of the enemy's position, and,
much to our surprise, we carried it with more ease and less loss than
the outpost in the morning, a circumstance which we could only account
for by supposing that it had been defended by the same troops, and
that they did not choose to sustain two _hard_ beatings on the same
day. The attack succeeded at every point; and, in the evening, we had
the satisfaction of seeing the left wing of the army marching into St.
Jean de Luz.
Towards the end of the action, Colonel Barnard was struck with a
musket-ball, which carried him clean off his horse. The enemy, seeing
that they had shot an officer of rank, very maliciously kept up a
heavy firing on the spot, while we were carrying him under the brow of
the hill. The ball having passed through the lungs, he was spitting
blood, and, at the moment, had every appearance of being in a dying
state; but, to our joy and surprise, he, that day month, rode up to the
battalion, when it was in action, near Bayonne; and, I need not add,
that he was received with three hearty cheers.
A curious fact occurred in our regiment at this period. Prior to the
action of the Nivelle, an owl had perched itself on the tent of one of
our officers (Lieut. Doyle). This officer was killed in the battle,
and the owl was afterwards seen on Capt. Duncan's tent. His
brother-officers quizzed him on the subject, by telling him that he
was the next on the list; a joke which Capt. D. did not much relish,
and it was prophetic, as he soon afterwards fell at Tarbes.
The movements of the two or three days following placed the enemy
within their entrenchments at Bayonne, and the head-quarters of our
battalion in the Chateau D'Arcangues, with the outposts of the
division at the village of Bassasarry and its adjacents.
I now felt myself both in a humour and a place to enjoy an interval of
peace and quietness. The country was abundant in every comfort; the
chateau was large, well-furnished, and unoccupied, except by a
bed-ridden grandmother, and young Arcangues, a gay rattling young
fellow, who furnished us with plenty of good wine, (by our paying for
the same,) and made one of our mess.
On the 20th of November a strong reconnoitring party of the enemy
examined our chain of posts. They remained a considerable time within
half-musket-shot of one of our piquets, but we did not fire, and they
seemed at last as if they had all gone away. The place where they had
stood bounded our view in that direction, as it was a small sand-hill
with a mud-cottage at the end of it; after watching the spot intensely
for nearly an hour, and none shewing themselves, my curiosity would
keep no longer, and, desiring three men to follow, I rode forward to
ascertain the fact. When I cleared the end of the cottage, I found
myself within three yards of at least a dozen of them, who were seated
in a group behind a small hedge, with their arms laid against the wall
of the cottage, and a sentry with sloped arms, and his back towards
me, listening to their conversation.
My first impulse was to gallop in amongst them, and order them to
surrender; but my three men were still twenty or thirty yards behind,
and, as my only chance of success was by surprise, I thought the risk
of the delay too great, and, reining back my horse, I made a signal to
my men to retire, which, from the soil being a deep sand, we were
enabled to do without the slightest noise; but all the while I had my
ears pricked up, expecting every instant to find a ball whistling
through my body; however, as none of them afterwards shewed themselves
past the end of the cottage, I concluded that they had remained
ignorant of my visit.
We had an affair of some kind, once a week, while we remained there;
and as they were generally trifling, and we always found a good dinner
and a good bed in the chateau on our return, we considered them rather
a relief than otherwise.
The only instance of a want of professional generosity that I ever had
occasion to remark in a French officer, occurred on one of these
occasions. We were about to push in their outposts, for some
particular purpose, and I was sent with an order for Lieutenant
Gardiner of ours, who was on piquet, to attack the post in his front,
as soon as he should see a corresponding movement on his flank, which
would take place almost immediately. The enemy's sentries were so
near, as to be quite at Mr. Gardiner's mercy, who immediately said to
me, "Well, I wo'n't kill these unfortunate rascals at all events, but
shall tell them to go in and join their piquet." I applauded his
motives, and rode off; but I had only gone a short distance when I
heard a volley of musketry behind me; and, seeing that it had come
from the French piquet, I turned back to see what had happened, and
found that the officer commanding it had no sooner got his sentries so
generously restored to him, than he instantly formed his piquet and
fired a volley at Lieutenant Gardiner, who was walking a little apart
from his men, waiting for the expected signal. The balls all fell
near, without touching him, and, for the honour of the French army, I
was glad to hear afterwards that the officer alluded to was a
militia-man.