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Auction: 19001 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 14

(x) Military General Service 1793-1814, 4 clasps, Corunna, Vittoria, Pyrenees, Orthes (Jas. Gorten, 6th Foot.), pawn broker's mark to edge at 10 o'clock, nearly very fine

Provenance:
Glendining's, May 1902.
Elson Collection, September 1963.

James Gorten served during the Peninsular War as a Private in the 1st Battalion, 6th (1st Warwickshire) Regiment of Foot. At the Battle of Vittoria on 21 June 1813, the 6th formed part of Dalhousie's 7th Division, which crossed the River Zadorra under intense fire and evicted D'Erlon's infantry from the village of Arinez. Following the British victory, Wellington made what he later described as 'one of the greatest faults he ever committed in war.' Approaching the Pyrenees, he divided his forces to besiege San Sebastián and Pamplona simultaneously. On 25 July a French army of 40,000 men under Marshal Soult swept through the Roncesvalles pass to relieve Pamplona. Stubborn resistance was offered by the outnumbered British troops, the 6th Foot charging with the bayonet. Luckily, a thick fog enabled Major-General Lowry Cole to withdraw his forces in good order to Sorauren, near Pamplona. Here the British made a determined stand on 28 July, forcing Soult to retreat across the Pyrenees. The 6th Foot, with the remainder of Dalhousie's Division, set off in pursuit, bravely scaling the Heights of Echalar on 2 August to attack a vastly superior French force in entrenched positions. In his subsequent Divisional Order, Wellington praised this action as 'the most gallant, and the finest thing he ever witnessed.'

Recommended reading:

Cannon, R., Historical Record of the 6th or Royal First Warwickshire Regiment of Foot (London, 1839).


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Sold for
£1,200