=Siege of Sebastian.=--Meanwhile, Wellington instructed the Spanish Generals to blockade the fortress of Pampeluna, and besieged San Sebastian, which was blockaded by the British Navy on July 3rd, and invested by the troops under Sir Thomas Graham on the 9th. During this, the first siege of San Sebastian, a Frenchman states that on the 19th and 20th for fifteen hours the British fired 350 shots per gun. On the 24th General Graham ordered the assault, and the way was led by Colin Campbell (afterwards Lord Clyde) of the 9th, and Machet the engineer. Campbell, doing many a daring deed, saw all his friends dead round him, while he, seriously wounded, was spared to achieve greater things. In this assault 44 officers of the line and 500 men were killed, wounded, or taken prisoners. The battalion of the Royal Scots present alone lost 87 killed and 246 wounded in the unsuccessful assault. In the meantime Marshal Soult, who had reached Bayonne on July 13th to take command of the united French army, attacked Major-General Byng's brigade at Roncesvalles on the 25th, while Count D'Erlon proceeded to attack Sir Rowland Hill in the Pass of Maya, where very desperate fighting ensued. The fighting at Roncesvalles and Maya continued until nine in the evening, when it was deemed advisable to abandon the Pass of Maya to the enemy. =Gallantry of Gordons at Maya.=--In the day's fighting the allies lost 1,600 men and 4 guns. In the Pass of Maya the British troops had been engaged for ten hours, and it is noteworthy that the 92nd Gordon Highlanders, being without ammunition, although ordered by General Stewart not to charge, could not be restrained, and not only charged, but led a charge against the enemy. In this engagement the 92nd lost 1 officer and 34 men killed, and 18 officers and 268 men wounded, one wing being practically annihilated. Napier states in his history of the war that "so dreadful was the slaughter, especially of the 92nd, that it is said the advancing enemy was actually stopped by the heaped dead and dying. The stern valour of the 92nd, principally composed of Scotsmen, would have graced Thermopylæ." In this sanguinary combat the 82nd also particularly distinguished itself. [Illustration: PRUSSIAN MEDALS FOR NAPOLEONIC WARS.] [Illustration: BRONZE MEDAL TO BRITISH GERMAN LEGION FOR PENINSULAR WAR.] [Illustration: SILVER MEDAL TO HANSEATIC LEGION, 1813-15. (See section, Some Continental and Foreign War Medals, p. 357.)]