Samuel Wray discharge

The cited information was sourced from Electronic Document (email, file) published by www.findmypast.co.uk (Ref: WO97-0712-124-001-WRAY_SAMUEL) The author/originator was British Army. This citation is considered to be direct and primary evidence used, or by dominance of the evidence.

• Source Notes
  • If date is 2nd of August (Battle of the Pyrenees), Eschalie is probably the town now called Etxalar.
    
    from   https://sites.google.com/site/sjzscertainfolksandevents/john-hogan/some-history-of-the-58th-regiment
    
    Below are excerpts from a series of articles on the 58th Regiment which appeared in The United Service Magazine in 1877-1878.
    Primary emphasis here is placed on the history of the second battalion of the 58th Regiment during the Peninsular War.
    
       From Waterford the 58th moved to Kingsale. Whilst the
    regiment was there stationed the " Army of Reserve Act " of July
    11, 1803, was passed, which directed thirty-five new battalions
    to be raised in the United Kingdom for limited service therein
    only. Of these thirty-five battalions, nineteen* were to form
    (limited-service) second battalions to existing line regiments,
    twelve being raised in England, and three in Scotland, and four
    in Ireland; and sixteen were to form independent battalions, which
    figured in the Army List under the head of " Army of Reserve."
    Of the latter, eleven were raised in England, two in Scotland and
    three in Ireland.
       The 58th was amongst the regiments ordered thus to form a
    second battalion in Ireland.
    {The 58th being in Ireland, the 2/58th was formed there in September, 1803.}
    
    ....
    
         On the evening of the 2d July, 1809, the Cham-
        pion frigate, Captain Henderson, anchored in the
        Tagus.
           On my way to join the 29th regiment, I had em-
        barked at Portsmouth with Captain Henderson, and
        accompanied him to Guernsey, where he took under
        convoy a fleet of transports, having on board the
        second battalions of the 34th, 39th, and 58th regi-
        ments, which he now saw in safety to their place of
        destination. It was late when we entered the river,
        and darkness prevented our enjoying a view of the
        beautiful scene. At daybreak, however, the city of
        Lisbon appeared in all the majesty of its picturesque
        and grand situation, while the stately river bore on
        its waters the ships of many nations. Close to where
        we anchored was the Barfleur, of 98 guns, bearing
        the flag of Admiral Berkeley, commanding in appear-
        ance, as in reality, every vessel that floated on the
        noble Tagus.
    For some time after its arrival in Portugal, the 2nd Battalion
    58th appears to have remained at Lisbon or in its vicinity. The
    regimental Returns for the winter 1809-10, and for some months of
    1810 show it at Lisbon; at the end of the latter year, when Welling-
    ton's army occupied the famous lines of Torres Vedras, the battalion,
    which, like the 2nd Battalion 88th and some others, was unattached
    to any brigade or division, was quartered in the town of Torres
    Vedras itself;* and later again, in 1810-11, it appears as again at
    Lisbon, and employed on the toilsome duty of furnishing escorts
    from that city along the lines of communication with the front.
    
    ...
    
    In the summer of 1812, the 2nd Battalion 58th, which had
    been moved up from Lisbon, was brigaded with the 1st Battalion
    42nd Highlanders (lately arrived from Scotland to replace the 2nd
    Battalion of the same corps), the 2nd Battalion 24th, and a detach-
    ment of the 5th or Jager Battalion of the 60th, and accompanied
    the army on the advance upon Salamanca.*
       The French had been compelled to retire from that city about the
    middle of June, having garrisons in the outlying forts around the
    place. On arriving, the British took up a position on the heights
    of San Christoval, which they occupied until the forts were relieved,
    when they broke up and followed in pursuit of the French, who
    retired behind the Douro. A series of manoeuvrings followed during
    the next six weeks, resulting in the opposing armies finding them-
    selves face to face in the neighbourhood of Salamanca, on the 21st
    September, 1812. In the memorable action there on the afternoon
    of Wednesday, the 22nd September, the battalion was present, but
    was not actually engaged, and no regimental losses are recorded in
    the "London Gazette."
       The battalion shared in the pursuit of the broken remains of the
    French army to Valladolid, the advance upon Madrid, and the sub-
    sequent return to Valladolid.
       Afterwards the 58th, with the brigade to which it belonged, took
    part in driving Clausel's troops up the valleys of the Pisuergan and
    Arlanzan rivers to Burgos, where a stand was made against the
    British advance.
       On the 19th September, the 7th Division crossed the river above
    the town, and the Light Infantry, supported by some Portuguese
    troops, drove the French outposts from the hill of St. Michael,
    _______
              * Cannon's " Record of the 42nd Highlanders."
    p.88
    about three hundred yards distant from the Castle of Burgos. On
    this hill was a large hornwork with a scarp of twenty-five feet, and
    a counterscarp ten feet high, but not quite finished. Orders were
    given for the work to be stormed the same night.* The attack was
    made by escalade with great gallantry, about eight p.m.; but the
    French were numerous and well prepared; a heavy fire was opened
    on the storming party, and every man who reached the top of the
    scaling ladders was at once hurled down, carrying his comrades
    below with him in his fall. After a desperate struggle the work
    was carried by the gorge with a loss to the British of seventy killed
    and 350 wounded, whilst according to the French Official Journal,
    the loss on the defenders' side was only 160 killed and wounded.†
       The loss in the 58th during the capture of St. Michael's is given
    in the "London Gazette" as one man killed, two officers, one ser-
    geant and eleven men wounded.
       The siege of the Castle was then commenced, during which the
    battalion was actively employed, its casualties between the 11th and
    17th October, 1812, amounting to one man killed and one officer
    wounded; and between the 18th and 21st October to one sergeant
    and six men killed, twelve men wounded, and two missing.
       The concentration of the enemy's forces and the advance of very
    superior numbers, obliged the British commander to retreat to
    Salamanca, and subsequently to Ciudad Rodrigo. The 58th bore
    its share in the privations and suffering and in the numberless
    encounters and skirmishes of that terrible retreat, and when the army
    established itself in winter quarters on the Portuguese frontier, the
    sickly state of the battalion rendered necessary its return to Lisbon.
       Early in the year 1813, several regiments, which had become so
    reduced as to be unfit to take the field again, were ordered home
    to recruit. Amongst them was the 2nd Battalion 58th.
       All the men fit for field-service were formed into a detachment of
    four companies, under command of Major O'Brien, and left in
    Portugal, and the head-quarters and remainder of the battalion,
    sailed from the Tagus for England, in March, 1813. On its arri-
    val home, the battalion was ordered to Battle, in Sussex, where
    volunteering was opened from the militia. Thence it subsequently
    moved to Hastings.
       The four companies left in Portugal under Major O'Brien, were
    formed into a Provisional Battalion, with four companies, similarly
    circumstanced, of the 2nd Battalion 24th, and this Provisional
    Battalion [called the 3rd], with the 6th Royal Regiment, fresh out from England,
    and the Brunswick Oels Light Infantry, under Major-General
    (afterwards Sir Edward) Barnes, now formed the 1st Brigade of the
    7th Division, commanded by Lord Dalhousie.‡
       In May, 1813, the Marquis of Wellington's army, augmented in
    _______
       * Cannon's " Record of the 42nd Highlanders."
       † Jones' "Sieges," vol. i.
       ‡ " Records of the 6th Royal Warwickshire Regiment."
    p.89
    numbers, improved in organisation, and more confident than ever in
    the superior skill of their commander, again took the field. Cross-
    ing in rapid succession, though not without difficulties and some
    losses, the Esla, Tormes, Carion, Pisuerges, Arlingan and Ebro
    rivers, the enemy falling back before them, calling in his detach-
    ments, and destroying his defensive works, the British penetrated as
    far as the plain of Vittoria, where preparations were made by the
    French for a resolute stand.
       On the morning of Monday, the 21st June, 1813, the 7th Divi-
    sion, including the 58th detachment, moved from its camp on the
    river Bayas, and traversed the mountains in the direction of
    Vittoria; but so rugged was the country and so difficult the tracts
    along the hills, that the battle was raging with great violence when
    they reached their appointed station* They were in time, however,
    to take part in forcing the passage of the Zadorra; and the 7th
    Division and one brigade of the 3rd passed the river and formed up
    on the left of the British line, where they were engaged with the
    French right in front of the villages of Margerita and Hermandad.
    The conduct of the 7th Division on this occasion was honourably
    mentioned in the despatches. No casualties are recorded in the
    58th at Vittoria.
       Subsequently the Division was employed in the blockade of
    Pampeluna up to the time of its capitulation.
       When the British Army entered the Pyrenees, the Light and
    7th Divisions occupied the heights of Santa Barbara, the town of
    Vera, and the Puerto de Echalar, and communicated with the troops
    in the valley of Bastan.†
       The French Army, reorganized under Soult, attacked the British
    posts on the 25th July [1813]. Barnes' brigade was moved forward to
    support two brigades of the 2nd Division, which had been forced
    from their ground at the head of the valley of Bastan, and the
    enemy was driven back with some loss. But the brigades at Ron-
    cesvalles having been obliged to retire, the troops in the valley
    of Bastan also fell back to a strong pass in the mountains near
    Iruetan.
       The conduct of the troops engaged on this occasion was com-
    mended by the Marquis of Wellington in the following words:—
       "Notwithstanding the enemy's superiority in numbers, they
    acquired but little advantage over these brave troops during the
    seven hours they were engaged. All the regiments charged with
    the bayonet."
       From Iruetan, General Barnes' brigade fell back with the 7th
    Division to Lizesso; and on the 29th July, 1813, took post in the
    mountains near Marcelin, to connect the main body of the army
    with Sir Rowland Hill's corps.
    
    ....
    
    We must now return to the movements of the four service
    companies of the 2nd Battalion, which we left with Major-
    General Barnes' brigade, of the 7th Division, near Marcelin at
    the end of July, 1813, after the fall of Pampeluna.
       Soult finding himself frustrated in his attempt to relieve that
    place had retired with the main body of his army, leaving a
    strong corps in an excellent position in the pass of Donna Maria,
    which was, however, dislodged by the advance of the 7th Division
    and Sir Rowland Hill's corps, who ascended the opposite flanks of
    the mountain on the 31st July, driving out the enemy in gallant
    style.
       The loss in the four companies of the 58th on this occasion
    amounted to two men killed and two wounded. Continuing to
    press on the rear of the French, the 4th and 7th Divisions then
    proceeded by the valley of the Bidassoa towards the French
    frontier.
       On the morning of 2nd August, 1813, Lord Dalhousie with
    the 7th Division marched a distance of ten miles over mountains
    and ridges, along paths frequented only by shepherds and wild
    goats, from Sambella towards the Puerto de Echalar.* Here                   [Sunbilla, Etxalar]
    were found two French divisions in a formidable position on the
    height, with the main body of the French army posted imme-
    diately behind them in the Puerto. Barnes' brigade was in
    advance, and in face of what appeared overpowering odds, the
    attack was made in the most gallant and daring style. "Barnes,"
    said a distinguished officer, who was witness of the scene, "set
    at the French as if every man had been a bull-dog, and himself
    the best bred of the lot."†
       The results are best told in the sober words of the Marquis
    of Wellington's despatch penned immediately after. "Major-
    General Barnes' brigade was formed for the attack and advanced
    before the 4th and Light Division could co-operate, with a regu-
    larity and gallantry I have seldom seen equalled, and actually
    drove the two divisions of the enemy, notwithstanding the resist-
    ance opposed to them, from those formidable heights. It is
    impossible that I can extol too highly the conduct of Major-
    General Barnes and these brave troops which was the admiration
    of all who were witnesses of it."
       On this memorable occasion, the 6th Royal Regiment was
    leading the brigade, and the companies of the 58th and 24th in
    support. The services of the detachment on this occasion are
    commemorated by the word "Pyrenees," which the regiment was
    subsequently accorded permission to bear upon its colours.
    _______
            * "Records of the 6th Royal Regiment."          † Idem.
    p.206
    
    
    
    Accounts of the August 2, 1813, storming the heights of Echellar by Barnes' Brigade.
    
    http://books.google.com/books?id=4lgBAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA161
    or
    http://books.google.com/books?id=MtddAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA161
    History of the war in the Peninsula, and in the south of France, from the year 1807 to the year 1814, Volume 6
    Sir William Francis Patrick Napier
    T. & W. Boone, 1840
    CHAP. V. - 1813. August.
    p.160
    ...
       During the night Soult rallied his divisions about
    Echallar, and on the morning of the 2d occupied
    the " Puerto" of that name. His left was placed
    at the rocks of Zagaramurdi; his right at the rock
    of Ivantelly communicating with the left of Vil-
    lage's reserve, which was in position on the ridges
    between Soult's right and the head of the great
    Rhune mountain. Meanwhile Clauzel's three divi-
    sions, now reduced to six thousand men, took post
    on a strong hill between the " Puerto" and town
    of Echallar. This position was momentarily adopted
    by Soult to save time, to examine the country, and
    to make Wellington discover his final object, but
    that general would not suffer the affront. He had
    sent the third and sixth divisions to reoccupy the
    passes of Roncesvalles and the Alduides; Hill had
    reached the Col de Maya, and Byng was at Urdax;
    the fourth, seventh, and light divisions remained in
    hand, and with these he resolved to fall upon
    Clauzel whose position was dangerously advanced.
       Combats of Echallar and Ivantelly.—The light
    division held the road running from the bridge of
    Yanzi to Echallar until relieved by the fourth divi-
    sion, and then marched by Lesaca to Santa
    Barbara, thus turning Clauzel's right. The fourth
    p.161
    division marched from Yanzi upon Echallar to
    attack his front, and the seventh moved from Sum-
    billa against his left; but Barnes's brigade, contrary
    to lord Wellington's intention, arrived unsupported
    before the fourth and light divisions were either
    seen or felt, and without awaiting the arrival of
    more troops assailed Clauzel's strong position. The
    fire became vehement, but neither the steepness of
    the mountain nor the overshadowing multitude of
    the enemy clustering above in support of their skir-
    mishers could arrest the assailants, and then was
    seen the astonishing spectacle of fifteen hundred
    men driving, by sheer valour and force of arms, six
    thousand good troops from a position, so rugged
    that there would have been little to boast of if the
    numbers had been reversed and the defence made
    good. It is true that the fourth division arrived
    towards the end of the action, that the French had
    fulfilled their mission as a rear-guard, that they
    were worn with fatigue and ill-provided with am-
    munition, having exhausted all their reserve stores
    during the retreat, but the real cause of their infe-
    riority belongs to the highest part of war.
       The British soldiers, their natural fierceness sti-
    mulated by the remarkable personal daring of their
    general, Barnes, were excited by the pride of suc-
    cess; and the French divisions were those which
    had failed in the attack on the 28th, which had
    been utterly defeated on the 30th, and which had
    suffered so severely the day before about Sumbilla.
    Such then is the preponderance of moral power.
    The men who had assailed the terrible rocks above
    Sauroren, with a force and energy that all the
    valour of the hardiest British veterans scarcely
    sufficed to repel, were now, only five days after-
    p.162
    wards, although posted so strongly, unable to sus-
    tain the shock of one-fourth of their own numbers.
    And at this very time eighty British soldiers, the
    comrades and equals of those who achieved this
    wonderful exploit, having wandered to plunder
    surrendered to some French peasants, who lord
    Wellington truly observed, "they would under
    other circumstances have eat up!" What gross
    ignorance of human nature then do those writers
    display who assert, that the employing of brute
    force is the highest qualification of a general!
    Clauzel, thus dispossessed of the mountain, fell
    back fighting to a strong ridge beyond the pass of
    Echallar, having his right covered by the Ivantelly
    mountain which was strongly occupied. ...
    ---------------------------------------
    http://books.google.com/books?id=_ljcbRMR2tQC&pg=PA253
    or
    http://books.google.com/books?id=SVg3AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA253
    The United Service Journal and Naval and Military Magazine; 1841, Part II
    p.120 [May, 1841 (p.1-144)]
                                    Barnes's Brigade at Echellar.
       Mr. Editor,—Permit me to use your pages in addressing the following
    memorandum to the gallant historian of the Peninsular War.
                                    To Colonel W. F. P. Napier, C.B., &c.
       Sir,—As no regiment, however distinguished it might be, not even one of
    your own glorious Light Division, can afford to lose the credit of what you
    term, in your sixth volume of the Peninsular War, a "wonderful exploit,"
    and what the Duke of Wellington, in writing to Lord Dalhousie, described
    as " the most gallant, the finest, thing, he had ever witnessed in his life,'' I
    trust you will mention, in the next edition of your sixth volume, that General
    Barnes' brigade, engaged in the celebrated attack on the heights of Echellar,
    consisted of the old 6th Foot (which "composed two-thirds of the brigade "),
    the 82nd Foot, and a party of Brunswickers, the whole about 1500 strong,
    opposed to 6000 French, in a position of amazing strength.
       I make this request the more readily, as I perceive, in the sixth volume,
    you have in many instances (pages 340, 344, 350, 392, &c) given the names
    of corps engaged in affairs infinitely less renowned.
    February, 1841.                                                               One Of The Sixth.
                                                 --------------
    ...
    [June, 1841 (p.145-288)]
    p.250
    GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE.
    TO THE EDITOR OF THE UNITED SERVICE JOURNAL.
    ...
    p.254
    ...
                                     Barnes's Brigade at Echellar.
       Mr. Editor,—Allow me to correct an erroneous statement respecting the
    Brigade of the late Sir Edward Barnes at Echellar, signed "One of the
    Sixth," which I observe in the United Service Journal for this month.
       The Brigade consisted only of the 3rd Provisional Battalion, composed of
    the 2nd battalion 24th Regt., and 2nd battalion 58th, formed into eight
    companies and commanded by Lieut.-Colonel Kelly, 24th Regt., Major
    Campbell of the 58th being second in command—and the 6th Regt. The
    Brigade, on the morning of the attack on the 2nd August, was formed left
    in front; and the Captain of the leading company of the 58th was ordered
    by General Barnes to force the heights, followed by the rest of the battalion.
    The ascent was very steep: and the troops, who were compelled to climb, on
    arriving at their first formation, were assailed by a very heavy fire from two
    lines, one above the other, which destroyed nearly half the leading company
    of the 58th, severely wounding the Captain and his subaltern. The 6th
    moved by another route to the left of these troops; but the enemy were
    turned before the whole got up, two or three of their companies only, I
    believe, being in time to open their fire. The 82nd were in General Inglis's
    Brigade, but what part they took I am not prepared to say, as they were in
    a different position. Capt. Birchall [James Brickell], of the 24th, and the Captain of the
    leading company of the 58th, were the two Captains who first ascended
    the heights. The correctness of this statement may be relied on; and it is
    offered, in justice to his brother-soldiers of the 58th and 24th, by
                                                                                   One Of Barnes's Brigade.
    18th May.
                                                          ------------
    [note: Capt. James Brickell of the 2/24th was severely wounded on Nov. 10, 1813 at Nivelle.]
    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    ********Note: casualties from attacking up Echalar ********
    http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/16763/pages/1610
    Gazette Issue 16763 published on the 16 August 1813. Page 10 of 12
    
    Abstract Return of Killed, Wounded, and Missing
    of the Army under the Command of Field-Mar-
    shal the Marquess of Wellington, K.G. in Action
    with the Enemy on the 2d August 1813.
    Total British loss-1 captain, 1 ensign, 4 serjeants,
    26 rank and file, killed ; 3 lieutenant-colonels, 2
    majors, 4 captains, 11 lieutenants, 2 ensigns, 1
    staff, 17 Serjeants, 1 drummer, 278 rank and file,
    wounded ; 7 rank and file missing.
    Portuguese loss-1 rank and file killed; 1 ensign,
    1 serjeant, 1 drummer, 5 rank and file, wounded.
    Grand total-1 captain, 1 ensign, 4 serjeants,
    27 rank and file, killed; 3 lieutenant-co-
    lonels, 2 majors, 4 captains, 11 lieutenants,
    3 ensigns, 1 staff, 18 serjeants, 2 drummers,
    283 rank and file, wounded; 7 rank and
    file missing.
    
    http://books.google.com/books?id=WegAAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA722
    Wellington's Operations in the Peninsula (1808-1814)
    By Captain Lewis William George Butler (1904) (in 2 volumes)
    Vol II.
    ***********************
    p.722
       On the [August] 2nd [1813], Soult was discovered in position, with his
    left at Zagaramundi, about two miles from Urdax, and
    his right on the rock of Ivantelly in touch with Villatte
    who occupied the spurs of La Khune mountain. Clausel,
    with but 6,000 men remaining, was posted in advance
    between the town and pass of Echallar, inviting attack.
       On the British side, Byng was at Urdax ; Hill, at the
    Col de Maya. Picton with the 3rd and 6th Divisions —
    the latter commanded once more by Pakenham, for Pack
    had been wounded at Sorauren — had reoccupied the
    passes of Eoncevalles and Alduides. The 4th, 7th, and
    Light Divisions were available for offensive operations.
    The last named was directed to turn Clausel's right by
    the San Barbara mountain, while the 7th Division from
    Sumbilla attacked his left, and the 4th his front.
       General Barnes, at the head of a Brigade of the 7th
    Division, 1,500 strong, came in contact with the enemy
    before the combination was complete. Yet without
    hesitation he attacked the whole of Clausel's Corps, which
    was occupying what appeared to be an almost impregnable
    position, and actually drove it off. " In my life
    I never saw such an attack," said Wellington. It was
    p.723
    indeed an astounding exploit, rivalled only by the Boers
    in 1881 when they captured the Majuba mountain. The
    feelings of the cautious Dalhousie at being blest with two
    such dashing Brigadiers as Barnes and Inglis, . who
    crowned him with laurels which he probably would
    never have gained by himself, can be better imagined
    than described!
    
    
    http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/hsmith/autobiography/peninsular.html
    or
    http://books.google.com/books?id=LL26ZwivoV0C&pg=PA115
    The autobiography of Lieutenant-General Sir Harry Smith, baronet of Aliwal on the Sutlej, G.C.B.
    By Sir Henry (Harry) George Wakelyn Smith (1788-1860). Ed. with the addition of some supplementary chapters, by George Charles Moore Smith (1858-1940). London: J. Murray, 1903.
    
    p.115
    ...
    After the battles of the Pyrenees, our Division
    was pushed forward with great rapidity to intercept
    the retreat of one of the corps d' armée, and General
    Kempt's–the 1st–Brigade had some very heavy
    fighting [at Jansi, 1 Aug.]; while at [Echallar],
    poor General Barnes, now no more, in command of
    a Brigade of the 7th Division, made one of the
    boldest and most successful attacks on five times
    his number, but one in which bravery and success
    far exceeded judgment or utility.
    ...
    
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    http://books.google.com/books?id=DGxKAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA733
    Title: A History of the peninsular war, Volume 6
    Author: Charles Oman
    Publisher: Clarendon Press, 1922
    p.731
    ...
    
      Wellington had only 12,000 men available in front of a very
    formidable position—hills 1,500 or 1,800 feet high, with the
    peaks which formed the flank protection rising to 2,100 or
    2,300. Under ordinary circumstances an attack would have
    p.732
    been insane. Moreover, his troops were almost as wayworn as
    those of Soult: the Light and 4th Divisions had received no
    rations since the 30th, and the latter had lost a good third of
    its strength in the very heavy fighting in which it had taken the
    chief part between the 25th and the 30th. But their spirits
    were high, they had the strongest confidence in their power to
    win, and they were convinced that the enemy was ' on the run'
    —in which idea they were perfectly right.
       The plan of attack was that the 4th and 7th Divisions should
    assail the enemy's centre, on each side of the village of Echalar,
    while the Light Division turned his western flank. This
    involved long preliminary marching for Alten's men, despite
    of their awful fatigues of the preceding day. They had to
    trudge from the bridge of Yanzi and Aranaz to Vera, where
    they turned uphill on to the heights of Santa Barbara, a series
    of successive slopes by which they ascended towards the Peak
    of Ivantelly and Reille's flank. Just as they began to deploy
    they got the first regular meal that they had seen for two days:
    'The soldiers were so weak that they could hardly stand; how-
    ever, our excellent commissary had managed to overtake us, and
    hastily served out half a pound of biscuit to each individual,
    which the men devoured in the act of priming and loading just
    as they moved off to the attack 1.' The morning was dull and
    misty—a great contrast to the blazing sunshine of the preceding
    day, and it was hard to get any complete view of the position—
    clouds were drifting along the hills and obscuring parts of the
    landscape for many minutes at a time. This chance put
    Wellington himself in serious danger for a moment—pushing
    forward farther than he knew, with a half-company of the
    43rd to cover him, he got among the French outposts, and was
    only saved by the vigilance of his escort from being cut off—
    he galloped back under a shower of balls—any one of which
    might have caused a serious complication in the British com-
    mand—it is impossible to guess what Beresford would have
    made of the end of the campaign of 1813.
       While the Light Division was developing the flank attack,
    the front attack was already being delivered—somewhat sooner
    than Wellington expected or intended. The plan had been for
    _______
                                          1 Cooke, i. 319.
    p.733 THE CHARGE OF BARNES'S BRIGADE
    the 4th Division to operate against the French right—the 7th
    against their centre and left centre. Cole, however, was delayed
    in getting forward by the immense block of French débris along
    the narrow defile from Sumbilla to the bridge of Yanzi. 'For
    two miles there were scattered along the road papers, old rugs,
    blankets, pack-saddles, old bridles and girths, private letters,
    hundreds of empty and broken boxes, quantities of entrenching
    tools, French clothes, dead mules, dead soldiers, dead peasants,
    farriers' tools, boots and linen, the boxes of M. le Général
    Baron de St. Pol 1 and other officers, the field hospital of the
    2nd Division (Darmagnac's), and all sorts of things worth
    picking up—which caused stoppage and confusion 2.'
       Now the 7th Division did not follow the spoil-strewn river
    road, but cut across from Sumbilla towards Echalar, over the
    same hill-tracks which Clausel's divisions had taken on the
    preceding afternoon, when they escaped from the pursuit of
    Cole's skirmishers. Hence it chanced that they arrived in front
    of Echalar on a route where the enemy was keeping no good
    watch, long before the 4th Division came up from the bridge
    of Yanzi and the Vera cross-roads. The mists on the hills had
    kept them screened—as Clausel complains in his report. Lord
    Dalhousie now carried out a most dangerous manoeuvre—a
    frontal attack on an enemy in position by a series of brigades
    arriving at long intervals—without any co-operation having
    been sought or obtained from the troops known to be on his left.
    'Bravery and success,' as a Light-Division neighbour observed,
    'certainly far exceeded judgement or utility 3.' What led the
    commander of the 7th Division to this astounding escapade was
    the obvious unpreparedness of the enemy. 'We caught them,'
    he wrote, ' cooking above, and plundering below in the village.
    I thought it best to be at them instantly, and I really believe
    Barnes's brigade was among them before their packs were
    well on 4.'
       The leading troops, and the only ones which really got into
    action, were the three battalions (l/6th, 3rd Provisional 5, and
    _______
       1 A brigadier in Maransin's division.
       2 Larpent's diary, p. 214.                         3 Harry Smith, i. p. 115.
       4 Dalhousie to Cairnes in Dickson Papers, ed. Leslie, p. 1020. [Col. John Leslie]
       5 2/24th and 2/58th.
    p.734
    Brunswick-Oels) of Barnes's brigade—led by that same fighting
    general who had stopped the rout at Maya with two of these
    same battalions. Barnes got his line formed, and attacked
    uphill against the front of Conroux's division, long before
    Inglis's brigade was ready to follow, or Lecor's Portuguese had
    even got down from the hill path into the narrow valley of the
    Sari stream. With such speed and vigour was the assault
    delivered, under a frontal fire from Conroux's men, and a flank
    fire from Vandermaesen's on the right, that Inglis's brigade,
    which was aiming at the village of Echalar, never had the chance
    of getting near its enemy. The advancing line suffered severely
    as it climbed—nearly 800 casualties—but when it came against
    the front of Conroux, and delivered its first volley, the enemy
    simply melted away 1. As Clausel writes in apology, ' the resis-
    tance ought to have been greater, and in the ordinary state of
    the army, that is to say when a better spirit prevailed, it would
    never have been possible for the enemy to establish himself in
    this fashion on a section of the main chain of the Pyrenees.
    This day the morale of the troops was bad 2.' It must be
    remembered that Conroux's was the division which had suffered
    so heavily in the village of Sorauren both on the 28th and the
    30th of July. Several of its battalions were skeletons—all
    much thinned. Still there must have been 3,000 men yet
    present out of the original 7,000—and they turned and fled
    before the uphill attack of 1,800 or less. Nor was this the end
    of the disaster. Clausel tried to hurry Vandermaesen's division
    to the succour of Conroux's. But the manoeuvre failed: the
    French General says that Conroux's flying troops ran in upon
    Vandermaesen's, that confusion followed, and that he was
    obliged to let the whole mass roll back to seek shelter with
    Taupin's division in the reserve line 2.
       At this moment the leading brigade of the 4th Division, that
    of Ross, at last appeared on Dalhousie's left, and began to
    _______
       1 Wellington thought this the most desperate and gallant charge he
    had ever seen. Dispatches, x. p. 591.
       2 Report of Clausel, August 2. ' Les troupes relevées n'ayant pu, malgré
    les efforts des généraux Conroux et Rey, s'arrêter sur la position indiquée,
    et s'étant jetées sur celles qui repoussaient l'attaque de la direction d'Échalar,
    il s'ensuivit un peu de confusion, et on fut obligé de les laisser aller jusqu'à
    l'hauteur de la division Taupin.'
    p.735
    skirmish with Lamartinière's line 1 : ...
    
    
    
    
    Reference:    WO 97/712/122
    Description:     
    
    SAMUEL WRAY
    
    Born RAPHOE, Donegal
    
    Served in 58th Foot Regiment
    
    Discharged aged 42
    Date:     1807-1815
    Held by:     The National Archives, Kew
    Legal status:     Public Record 

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  • Individual: Samuel Wray
  • Occupation: labourer Samuel Wray
  • Occupation: soldier Samuel Wray
  • Occupation: army pensioner Samuel Wray