The loss of the 83rd in this action was severe, amounting to 1 sergeant, 10 rank and file killed, 9 officers (Lieutenant-Colonel Carr, Major Blaquiere, Captains Venables and Elliott, Lieutenants Baldwin, Watson, and Lane, Ensign Nugent and Adjutant Swinburne), with 1 sergeant, 1 drummer, and 28 rank and file wounded; and its conduct was so meritorious that Colonel Keane, in brigade orders, returned it and the 87th his thanks for their gallant behaviour, declaring that in this battle they had added to their already high reputation. On this occasion Captain Elliott, of the Light Company, was promoted to be brevet major, and received a medal, and his Majesty was graciously pleased to permit the word “Orthes” to be inscribed on the colours and appointments of the 83rd, to commemorate the service it performed in that battle. In the month of March following, Picton’s division again encountered the enemy, and falling upon him at Vic Bigorre, drove him from his position, and compelled him to continue his retreat. In this affair the 83rd Regiment was vigorously engaged, and lost 1 sergeant and 6 men killed, and 2 Lieutenants (Hingstone and Lane) and 16 men wounded. TOULOUSE [Sidenote: 1814.] On the 10th April, the British army fought and won the crowning battle of Toulouse, and Picton again led his division into the middle of the fight. The 83rd Regiment, with the left brigade, was but partially engaged and suffered a slight loss, and it has received the royal commission to bear the word “Toulouse” on its colours and appointments, for its services in that victory. The war was at this period brought to a conclusion; the illustrious Emperor of the French, Napoleon Bonaparte, being compelled to abdicate. His able lieutenant, Marshal Soult, gave in his adhesion to the new government, and hostilities accordingly ceased. The 83rd was quartered at La Mao, where Major Blaquiere, having recovered from his wounds, rejoined and assumed the command. It was afterwards removed to Blanque Fort Camp, near Bordeaux, where 1 captain, 2 lieutenants, 1 assistant-surgeon, and 15 rank and file joined from prisoners of war. The whole army was there reviewed by the Duke of Wellington; and on the 1st of June the battalion embarked from Bordeaux for England. As a reward for their own and their regiment’s service during this memorable war, his Majesty was pleased to appoint Lieutenant-Colonel H. W. Carr a Knight Commander, and Major George Hext a Companion, of the Most Honourable Military Order of the Bath; and the word “Peninsula,” inscribed by the royal authority on the colours and appointments of the 83rd, commemorates the valiant achievements of the 2nd Battalion throughout the whole of the Peninsular campaigns. PART III SERVICES OF THE REGIMENT IN CEYLON FROM 1814–29 [Sidenote: 1814.]