La Bataille d'Orthez

To Earl Bathurst.

MY LORD, St. Sever, 1st March, 1814.

The sense which I had of the difficulties attending the movement of the army by its right, across so many rivers as must have been and as have lately been passed in its pro- gress, induced me to determine to pass the Adour below the town of Bayonne, notwithstanding the difficulties which opposed this operation; and I was the more induced to adopt this plan, as, whatever might be the mode in which I should eventually move upon the enemy, it was obvious that I could depend upon no communication with Spain and the seaports of that kingdom and with St. Jean de Luz, excepting that alone which is practicable in the winter, viz., by the high roads leading to and from Bayonne.

I likewise hoped that the establishment of a bridge below Bayonne would give me the use of the Adour as a harbour.

The movements of the right of the army, which I detailed to your Lordship in my last dispatch, were intended to divert the enemy's attention from the preparations at St. Jean de Luz and Pasages for the passage of the Adour below Bayonne, and to induce the enemy to move his force to his left, in which objects they succeeded completely; but upon my return to St. Jean de Luz, on the 19th, I found the weather so unfavorable at sea and so uncertain, that I determined to push forward my operations on the right, notwithstanding that I had still the Gave d'Oleron, the Gave de Pau, and the Adour to pass.

Accordingly, I returned to Garris on the 21st, and ordered the 6th and Light divisions to break up from the blockade of Bayonne; and General Don Manuel Freyre to close up the cantonments of his corps towards Irun, and to be prepared to move when the left of the army should cross the Adour.

I found the pontoons collected at Garris, and they were moved forward on the following days to and across the Gave de Mauleon, and the troops of the centre of the army arrived.

On the 24th, Lieut. General Sir Rowland Hill passed the Gave d'Oleron at Villenave, with the Light, 2nd, and Portuguese divisions, under the command of Major General Baron Charles Alten, Lieut. General Sir William Stewart, and Mariscal de Campo Le Cor; while Lieut. General Sir Henry Clinton passed with the Gth division between Monfort and Laas; and Lieut. General Sir Thomas Picton made demonstrations, with the 3rd division, of an intention to attack the enemy's position at the bridge of Sauveterre, which induced the enemy to blow up the bridge.

Mariscal de Campo Don Pablo Morillo drove in the enemy's posts near Navarreins, and blockaded that place.

Field Marshal Sir William Beresford likewise, who, since the movement of Sir Rowland Hill on the 14th and 15th, had remained with the 4th and 7th divisions, and Colonel Vivian's brigade, in observation on the Lower Bidouze, attacked the enemy on the 23rd in their fortified posts at Hastingues and Oeyregave, on the left of the Gave de Pau, and obliged them to retire within the tete de pont at Peyrehorade.

Immediately after the passage of the Gave d'Oleron was effected, Sir Rowland Hill and Sir Henry Clinton moved towards Orthez and the great road leading from Sauveterre to that town; and the enemy retired in the night from Sauveterre across the Gave de Pau, and assembled their army near Orthez on the 25th, having destroyed all the bridges on the river.

The right and right of the centre of the army assembled opposite Orthez, Lieut. General Sir Stapleton Cotton, with Lord Edward Somerset's brigade of cavalry, and the 3rd division, under Lieut. General Sir Thomas Picton, were near the destroyed bridge of Berenx; and Field Marshal Sir William Beresford, with the 4th and 7th divisions, under Lieut. General Sir Lowry Cole and Major General Walker, and Colonel Vivian's brigade, towards the junction of the Gave de Pau with the Gave d'Oleron.

The troops opposed to the Marshal having moved on the 25th, he crossed the Gave de Pau below the junction of the Gave d'Oleron on the morning of the 26th, and moved along the high road from Peyrehorade towards Orthez, on the enemy's right. As he approached, Lieut. General Sir Stapleton Cotton crossed with the cavalry, and Lieut. Ge- neral Sir Thomas Picton with the 3rd division, below the bridge of Berenx; and I moved the 6th and Light divisions to the same point; and Lieut. General Sir Rowland Hill occupied the heights opposite Orthez and the high road leading to Sauveterre.

The 6th and Light divisions crossed in the morning of the 27th at daylight, and we found the enemy in a strong position near Orthez, with his right on a height on the high road to Dax, and occupying the village of St. Boes, and his left on the heights above Orthez and that town, and opposing the passage of the river by Sir Rowland Hill.

The course of the heights on which the enemy had placed his army necessarily retired his centre, while the strength of the position gave extraordinary advantages to the flanks.

I ordered Marshal Sir William Beresford to turn and attack the enemy's right with the 4th division under Lieut. General Sir Lowry Cole, and the 7th division under Major General Walker and Colonel Vivian's brigade of cavalry; while Lieut. General Sir Thomas Picton should move along the great road leading from Peyrehorade to Orthez, and attack the heights on which the enemy's centre and left stood, with the 3rd and 6th divisions under Lieut. General Sir Henry Clinton, supported by Sir Stapleton Cotton, with Lord Edward Somerset's brigade of cavalry. Major General Baron Charles Alten, with the Light division, kept the communication, and was in reserve between these two attacks. I likewise desired Lieut. General Sir Rowland Hill to cross the Gave, and to turn and attack the enemy's left.

Marshal Sir William Beresford carried the village of St. Boes with the 4th division, under the command of Lieut. General Sir Lowry Cole, after an obstinate resistance by the enemy; but the ground was so narrow that the troops could not deploy to attack the heights, notwithstanding the repeated attempts of Major General Ross and Brigadier General Vasconcellos' Portuguese brigade; and it was impossible to turn them by the enemy's right without an excessive extension of our line.

I therefore so far altered the plan of the action as to order the immediate advance of the 3rd and 6th divisions, and I moved forward Colonel Barnard's brigade of the Light division to attack the left of the height on which the enemy's right stood.

This attack, led by the 52nd regiment under Lieut. Colonel Colborne, and supported on their right by Major General Brisbane's and Colonel Keane's brigades of the 3rd division, and by simultaneous attacks on the left by Major General Anson's brigade of the 4th division, and on the right by Lieut. General Sir Thomas Picton, with the re mainder of the 3rd division and the 6th division, under Lieut. General Sir Henry Clinton, dislodged the enemy from the heights and gave us the victory.

In the mean time, Lieut. General Sir Rowland Hill had forced the passage of the Gave above Orthez, and seeing the state of the action he moved immediately, with the 2nd division of infantry under Lieut. General Sir William Stew art and Major General Fane's brigade of cavalry, direct for the great road from Orthez to St. Sever, thus keeping upon the enemy's left.

The enemy retired at first in admirable order, taking every advantage of the numerous good positions which the country afforded him. The losses, however, which he sus- tained in the continued attacks of our troops, and the danger with which he was threatened by Lieut. General Sir Rowland Hill's movement, soon accelerated his move- ments, and the retreat at last became a flight, and the troops were in the utmost confusion.

Lieut. General Sir Stapleton Cotton took advantage of the only opportunity which offered to charge with Major General Lord Edward Somerset's brigade, in the neighbourhood of Sault de Navailles, where the enemy had been driven from the high road by Lieut. General Sir Rowland Hill. The 7th hussars distinguished themselves upon this occasion, and made many prisoners.

We continued the pursuit till it was dusk; and I halted the army in the neighbourhood of Sault de Navailles. I cannot estimate the extent of the enemy's loss; we have taken 6 pieces of cannon and a great many prisoners, the numbers I cannot at present report. The whole country is covered by their dead. The army was in the utmost con- fusion when I last saw it passing the heights near Sault de Navailles, and many soldiers had thrown away their arms. The desertion has since been immense.

We followed the enemy on the following day to this place; and we this day passed the Adour. Marshal Sir William Beresford marched with the Light division and General Vivian's brigade upon Mont de Marsan, where he has taken a very large magazine of provisions. Lieut. General Sir llowland Hill has moved upon Aire, and the advanced posts of the centre are at Cazeres.

The enemy are apparently retiring upon Agen, and have left open the direct road towards Bordeaux.

While the operations of which I have above given the report were carrying on on the right of the army, Lieut. General Sir John Hope, in concert with Rear Admiral Penrose, availed himself of an opportunity which offered on the 23rd of February to cross the Adour below Bayonnc, and to take possession of both banks of the river at its mouth. The vessels destined to form the bridge could not get in till the 24th, when the difficult, and at this season of the year dangerous, operation of bringing them in was effected with a degree of gallantry and skill seldom equalled. Lieut. General Sir John Hope particularly mentions Captain O'Reilly, Lieut. Cheshire, Lieut. Douglas, and Lieut. Collins, of the navy, and also Lieut. Debenham, Agent of Transports; and I am infinitely indebted to Rear Admiral Penrose for the cordial assistance I received from him in preparing for this plan, and for that which he gave Lieut. General Sir John Hope in carrying it into execution.

The enemy, conceiving that the means of crossing the river which Lieut. General Sir John Hope had at his com- mand, viz., rafts made of pontoons, had not enabled him to cross a large force in the course of the 23rd, attacked the corps which he had sent over on that evening. This corps consisted of 600 men of the 2nd brigade of Guards under the command of Major General the Hon. E. Stopford, who repulsed the enemy immediately. The Rocket brigade was of great use upon this occasion.

Three of the enemy's gun boats were destroyed this day; and a frigate lying in the Adour received considerable damage from the fire of a battery of 18 pounders, and was obliged to go higher up the river to the neighbourhood of the bridge.

Lieut. General Sir John Hope invested the citadel of Bayonne on the 25th; and Lieut. General Don Manuel Freyre moved forward with the 4th Spanish army in consequence of directions which I had left for him.

On the 27th, the bridge having been completed, Lieut. General Sir John Hope deemed it expedient to invest the citadel of Bayonne more closely than he had done before; and he attacked the village of St. Etienne, which he carried, having taken a gun and some prisoners from the enemy; and his posts are now within 900 yards of the outworks of the place.

The result of the operations which I have detailed to your Lordship is, that Bayonne, St. Jean Pied de Port, and Navarreins, are invested; and the army, having passed the Adour, are in possession of all the great communications across that river, after having beaten the enemy, and taken their magazines.

I have ordered forward the Spanish troops under General Freyre, and the heavy British cavalry and artillery, and the Portuguese artillery.

Your Lordship will have observed with satisfaction the able assistance which I have received in these operations from Marshal Sir William Beresford, Lieut. Generals Sir Rowland Hill, Sir John Hope, and Sir Stapleton Cotton; and from all the General Officers, Officers, and troops acting under their orders respectively. It is impossible for me sufficiently to express my sense of their merits, or of the degree in which the country is indebted to their zeal and ability for the situation in which the army now finds itself.

All the troops distinguished themselves; the 4th division, under Lieut. General Sir Lowry Cole, in the attack of St. Boes, and the subsequent endeavors to carry the right of the heights; the 3rd, 6th, and Light divisions, under the command of Lieut. General Sir Thomas Picton, Sir Henry Clinton, and Major General Charles Baron Alten, in the attack of the enemy's position on the heights; and these, and the 7th division under Major General Walker, in the various operations and attacks on the enemy's retreat.

The charge made by the 7th hussars under Lord Edward Somerset was highly meritorious.

The conduct of the artillery throughout the day deserved my highest approbation.

I am likewise much indebted to the Quarter Master General Sir George Murray, and the Adjutant General Sir Edward Pakenham, for the assistance I have received from them; and to Lord FitzRoy Somerset, and the Officers of my personal Staff; and to the Mariscal de Campo Don Miguel Alava.

The last accounts which I have received from Catalonia are of the 20th. The French commanders of the garrisons of Llerida, Mequinenza, and Monzon, had been induced to evacuate those places by orders sent to them by the Baron de Eroles in Marshal Suchet's cipher, of which he had got possession.

The troops composing these garrisons, having joined, were afterwards surrounded in the pass Martorell, on their march towards the French frontier, by a detachment from the 1st Spanish army, and by a detachment from the Anglo Sicilian corps. Lieut. General Copons allowed them to capitulate; but I have not yet received from him any report on this subject, nor do I yet know what is the result.

It was expected in Catalonia that Marshal Suchet would immediately evacuate that province; and I hear here that he is to join Marshal Soult.

I have not yet received the detailed report of the capitulation of Jaca.

I enclose the returns of killed and wounded upon the late occasion.

I send this dispatch by my aide de camp Major Fremantle, whom I beg leave to recommend to your Lordship's protection.

I have the honor to be, &c

Earl Bathurst: WELLINGTON.

Return of the Killed, Wounded, and Missing, of the Allied Army, under the Command of Marshal the Marquis of Wellington, K.G., in Action with the French Army under the Command of Marshal Soult, on the 77th February, at Orthez.