Page:Viscount Hardinge and the Advance of the British Dominions into the Punjab.djvu/27

Rh brigades, and that alone, turned the tide of this memorable action. Lord Hardinge's equestrian statue by Foley, R.A., on the Maidan at Calcutta, records on its pedestal the part he took in this great victory — a victory which was all-important in its results on the subsequent operations in the Peninsula.

For his services at Albuera, Hardinge received the Portuguese decoration of the Tower and Sword, and was marked out to take a leading part in the remaining operations of the campaign.

Being again wounded severely at Vittoria, he was for a short time placed hors de combat; but with his wound still open, causing him great pain, he was determined to go to the front, and was in time to take part in the subsequent memorable actions of the Pyrenees, Nive, and Nivelle. He was also present at the siege of St. Sebastian and the operations on the Bidassoa. For these he received the gold medal of distinction, which in those days was the only decoration granted by the Sovereign for services in the field. In the campaign of 1814 he was in command of a Portuguese brigade at Orthez and Toulouse. He was publicly thanked in General Orders and received his tenth decoration. During the whole of the Peninsular War Hardinge was never absent from his duties, except when incapacitated by the severity of his wounds. At the close of the campaign he was promoted to a Lieutenant Colonelcy in the Foot Guards, and was knighted, receiving the K.C.B. when the Order of the Bath was remodelled in January, 1815.