148] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1813. 



lost a great number of prisoners. 

 A separate attack upon sir Row- 

 land Hill's position was also re- 

 pelled after a hard contest; and 

 on the night of August 1st, the 

 allied army was nearly in the same 

 positions which it occupied on the 

 25th July. The general was en- 

 abled to bestow the highest com- 

 mendations on the behaviour of 

 the troops of the different nations 

 on this trying occasion, and per- 

 haps in none of the actions during 

 this war was more military skill 

 displayed by the commanders, or 

 steady valour by the soldiers. Yet 

 ene more exploit remains to be 

 related. The enemy continuing 

 posted on the 2nd with two divi- 

 sions on the Puerto de Echalar, 

 and nearly their whole army be- 

 hind the Puerto, lord Wellington 

 determined to dislodge them by a 

 combined movement of three ad- 

 vanced divisions. One of these, 

 however, the seventh, under the 

 command of major-gen. Barnes, 

 being first formed, commenced the 

 attack by itself, and actually drove 

 the two divisions of the enemy 

 from the formidable heights which 

 they occupied. This part of the 

 Spanish frontier was now entirely 

 cleared of the foe. The loss of 

 the French in all these affairs is 

 generally mentioned by the com- 

 mander to be severe in both oflB- 

 cers and men. A private account 

 states it at 15,000, of whom 4,000 

 were prisoners. That of the allies 

 ■was considerable, though scarcely 

 equal to what might have been 

 expected from the warmth and va- 

 riety of the actions in which they 

 were engaged. A serious addition 

 to this loss was made by an unsuc- 

 cessful attempt upon St. Sebas- 

 tian on the 25th. Early on that 



morning, when the fall of the tide 

 had left the foot of the wall dry, 

 an attack of the breach in that 

 line was ordered, and was executed 

 with great gallantry, some of the 

 troops having penetrated into the jj|| 

 town; but the defences raised by ■ 

 the enemy were so strong and nu- 

 merous, and the fire of musketry 

 and grape was so destructive, that 

 it became necessary to abandon 

 the enterprise. On this occasion, 

 the third battalion of Royal Scots, 

 which led the attack, suffered se- 

 verely in men and officers ; and 

 the whole loss in killed, wounded, 

 and missing, was nearly 900. 



The next dispatch from lord 

 Wellington, dated from Lezaca, 

 August 11, stated, that no particu- 

 lar change had taken place in the 

 position of the two armies since 

 the 4th, but gave the informa- 

 tion that the enemy's fortified 

 post at Saragossa had surrendered 

 to Mina on July 30th, with 500 

 men, 47 pieces of cannon, and a 

 great quantity of ammunition and 

 warlike stores. The siege of Tar- 

 ragona having been resumed under 

 the command of lord W. Ben- 

 tinck, marshal Suchet collected his 

 troops for its relief to the number 

 of 20 or 25,000 men, and on Au- 

 gust 10th, arrived at Villa Franca. 

 The intelligence of his advance 

 caused lord W. Bentinck to sus- 

 pend all operations of the siege ; I 

 and finding no secure position in: 

 the vicinity, and not having been 

 joined by all the troops he ex- 

 pected, he thought it advisable to 

 fall back upon Cambrills, a deter- 

 mination which lord Wellington 

 perfectly approved. The French' 

 afterwards blew up the works of- . 

 Tarragona, and retired. 



The fall of St. Sebastian was" 



