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Auction: 18003 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 14

Military General Service 1793-1814, 4 clasps, Salamanca, Pyrenees, Nivelle, Orthes (S. Haslam, 32nd Foot.), contact marks and edge bruising, nearly very fine

Samuel Haslam served at the Battle of Salamanca on 22 July 1812 as a Private with the 32nd (Cornwall) Regiment of Foot. Part of Major-General Sir Henry Clinton's 6th Division, the 32nd broke Ferrey's Division on the Greater Arapile, mortally wounding its commander. The engagement proved very costly: of the 5,214 casualties sustained by the British at Salamanca, around a quarter were to the 6th Division. Haslam's discharge papers confirm that he was 'wounded in the thigh at Salamanca' (WO 116/59).

At the Pyrenees (clasp) on 28 July 1813, 6th Division occupied the left bank of the River Lauz. While taking up their position they were attacked by a large French force, which they eventually repulsed with immense loss. After the fall of St. Sebastian and the passage of the Bidassoa, Wellington attacked a strongly fortified line of works along the River Nivelle (clasp) on 10 November. 6th Division captured all the redoubts and entrenchments on the right of the enemy position, paving the way for the invasion of France. In a last bid for victory, Marshal Soult established a strong defensive position along the Saveterre ridge, commanding the approaches to Orthes (clasp). 6th Division repeatedly attacked the village of St. Boës, in the centre of Soult's position, on 27 February 1814. The village changed hands several times, the French finally withdrawing as Picton's 3rd Division approached.

Haslam appears on the Waterloo roll as a Private in Captain John Crowe's Company, 32nd Regiment of Foot. Part of Major-General Sir James Kempt's Brigade in Picton's 5th Division, the 32nd were positioned on the reverse slope just east of the Brussels-Charleroi road on the morning of 18 June 1815. When Napoleon launched his main infantry assault at 1.30 p.m., in the form of D'Erlon's Corps, Kempt's Brigade received the attack of Bourgeouis' Brigade and suffered grievous casualties in a prolonged firefight. Holding the centre-left of Wellington's line, Picton's Division alone suffered 2,943 casualties; sold with copied discharge papers.

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Sold for
£950