Historical Record of the Seventh, or the Queen's Own Regiment of Hussars: Containing an Account of the Origin of the Regiment in 1690, and of Its Subsequent Services to 1842Cannon, Richard
History
Historical Record of the Seventh, or the Queen's Own Regiment of Hussars: Containing an Account of the Origin of the Regiment in 1690, and of Its Subsequent Services to 1842
Cannon, Richard
Great Britain. Army -- History; Great Britain. Army. Queen's Own Hussars, 7th
The glorious victories gained by the allied army under Field
Marshal the Marquis of Wellington had, in the mean time,
accomplished the deliverance of Portugal, and of nearly all Spain,
from the despotic sway of Bonaparte, and the SEVENTH HUSSARS were
selected to take part in completing the overthrow of the tyrannical
power of Napoleon. Eight troops, commanded by Lieut.-Colonel R.
Hussey Vivian, embarked at Portsmouth on the 15th of August, and
landed at Bilboa, the capital of Biscay, in Spain, on the 1st
of September; and two additional troops joined from England in
October. The regiment was formed in brigade with the Tenth and
Fifteenth hussars, commanded by Major-General Lord Edward Somerset.
After the surrender of the castle of St. Sebastian the regiment
advanced, and having joined the army, supported the infantry at
the passage of the _Bidassoa_, and advanced as far as Vera on the
borders of France. The SEVENTH HUSSARS subsequently retired through
the Pyrenean mountains to the vicinity of Pampeluna, which fortress
surrendered on the 31st of October.
Colonel Richard Hussey Vivian having been appointed to the command
of a brigade of cavalry, the command of the regiment devolved on
Lieut.-Colonel Edward Kerrison.
[Sidenote: 1814]
After occupying village cantonments near Pampeluna for several
weeks, the SEVENTH HUSSARS marched through the Pyrenees and
joined the army in France. On the 18th of December they took the
out-post duty at Cambo, a town eight miles from Bayonne, where
the French army, under Marshal Soult, lay in a fortified camp. On
the 31st of December, the regiment took the out-post duty on the
road leading to St. Jean Pied de Port, where a French division
was stationed. The weather becoming very severe, the regiment
went into cantonments in the beginning of 1814, near Hasparan, in
Gascony, thirteen miles from Bayonne: in these quarters forage was
particularly scarce, and the horses suffered in condition from
being fed on chopped gorse and about three pounds of oats a day.
The foraging parties sent towards the French lines, had frequent
skirmishes, and on one of these occasions, Captain Peter Augustus
Heyliger was wounded.
The weather having become more clear, the army advanced in the
middle of February, and on the 24th the hussar brigade proceeded to
the bank of the Gave d'Oléron, in the expectation of being engaged.
Captain Fraser and twelve men of the SEVENTH passed the river under
a heavy fire, and were followed by Captain Verner's squadron, for
the purpose of supporting a body of infantry which had crossed the
stream and were seriously engaged; but the enemy being in force,
and the ground such that cavalry could not act, the squadron was
re-called. The enemy abandoning his position, the regiment crossed
the river in pursuit, and halted at the village of Boren.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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