. Between intervals in the almost incessant French bombardment she carried sandbags to help in the repair of the battery. She handed out ammunition to the troops and supplied them with wine and water. The regiment held out until April 21st when after thirty hours of constant bombardment from superior French guns the Spanish gunboats had been driven away. When their ammunition had finally run out Agnes took her place beside the troops on the battery for the final assault. Seeing that the batteries defences had almost collapsed the French sent out a strong force to take the fort but determined to fire a farewell shot the men of the 94th crammed their three cannon with loose power, ball cartridge and anything else at hand. As the French closed to within three hundred yards of the fort the regiment fired their last into the heart of the French force, forcing them to flee. The order to withdraw form Matagorda was given by General Graham on the 22nd April 1810. There were 64 casualties out of an original force of 140 men. During their withdrawal Agnes made three forays across the battery, amid shot and shell, to retrieve her husband’s and her own belongings and finally her last foray was for her four year old son. Agnes returned to Glasgow with her son and received neither thanks nor reward for her actions. After his discharge from the army Sergeant James Reston returned to join his wife in Glasgow where they lived on his small army pension of one shilling and ten pence a day. (NEXT)