On the next day the Regiment marched to Obregon, where they halted for some hours; and in the evening halted at Aget. The French were now falling back on Tarbes, and on this day the Riflemen heard much firing on their right, which was caused by the attack of Picton’s light troops on the retreating enemy near Vic en Bigorre. On the 20th the Regiment marched early, and moving along the ridge on which they had last night encamped, arrived at Rabastens. Here learning that the enemy had taken up a position near Tarbes, they moved to the right, by the road leading from Auch to Tarbes. On approaching this town the French were found posted in a formidable position on a hill, or rather a succession of heights intersected with ditches and hedges, which gave it almost the form of entrenchments. It being at first supposed that no considerable force was engaged, for on marching along the road only a small party were observed, a company of the 2nd Battalion was sent to dislodge them. But when it was ascertained that the position was occupied by a considerable part of General Harispe’s division, the whole Regiment advanced to the attack. The 3rd Battalion were on the right, the 2nd in the centre, and the 1st Battalion on the left. The front of the enemy was covered by clouds of light troops, whom it was not easy to dislodge, for they had the protection of hedges and banks; and the Riflemen had to force their way in skirmishing through some covert of considerable growth. Then they emerged at the foot of the hill, and the enemy’s ranks rose ‘tier above tier’ as one eye-witness describes it, on the side of the mountain. But the Riflemen rushed forward; and though their opponents fought desperately, and their fire was delivered from one rank above another like the guns on the decks of a three-decker, yet the Riflemen drove them from the hill, over it and into the plain below. ‘The French,’ Napier relates, ‘charged with great hardiness, and being encountered by men not accustomed to yield, they fought muzzle to muzzle; and it was difficult to judge at first who would win.’ It was not long to decide; for within an hour this hill was taken; its face cleared of all but the dead or dying, and the French in disordered flight over the plain beyond. Napier supposes that the French mistook the Riflemen, on account of their green dress, for Portuguese, and therefore fought with more perseverance than was usual against English troops. Yet one would suppose that the veterans of the Peninsula had too often fought with the green-jackets to be ignorant of their nationality or their endurance in fight. Be that as it may, all agree that this was an unusually hard-fought field. Surtees says ‘the firing was the hottest I had ever seen, except perhaps Barossa.’ And Costello observes ‘I never remember to have been so warmly engaged as on this occasion, except at Badajos.’