William Inglis Lieutenant General Sir William Inglis , KCB ( 1764 – 29 November 1835 ) was a British officer of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars . Inglis served at several of the heaviest engagements of the Peninsula War , was wounded numerous times and earned national fame through his order " Die hard 57th , die hard ! " to his regiment as he lay seriously wounded behind their ranks at the height of the Battle of Albuera . Thanks to Inglis ' leadership , the regiment held and the battle was won and although his wounds nearly proved fatal , Inglis returned to action again two years later to see the war out as a Brigadier . Post - war , Inglis was knighted and served in several military governorships including a spell as Governor of Cork , in which position he died in 1835 . Early career . Almost nothing is known of Inglis ' s birth or childhood , save that he was born in 1764 , the third son of Dr . William Inglis , head of the College of Surgeons , Edinburgh . Even his mother ' s name is unknown , as is the location of his birth and any details of his education . Indeed , the first undisputed records about him which are known are those indicating that he was commissioned into the 57th Regiment of Foot as an ensign in 1779 , although he did not actually join the regiment for another two years , meeting them in New York at the height of the American Revolutionary War in 1781 . Following the British defeat , Inglis and his regiment travelled to Nova Scotia and Inglis spent the next ten years in Canada . Whilst stationed in North America , Inglis became a lieutenant in 1782 and a captain in 1785 . When his unit returned to Britain in 1791 , the French Revolution had occurred and Inglis was engaged during the next two years maintaining order in the Midlands . When war with France broke out in 1793 , the 57th was dispatched to the army of the Duke of York during his against the French in the Low Countries . The same year , Inglis and his men were also briefly detached to a failed expedition to Brittany , but by the time the campaign had faltered in the winter of 1794 , Ingis was back in Belgium . Participating in the siege of Nijmegen and withdrawal to Bremen during the winter of 1794 / 95 , Inglis performed well , and despite the failure of a second expedition to Brittany in 1795 , he was promoted to major . In 1796 , Inglis and his regiment were posted to the West Indies , arriving in early 1796 as they only vessel of the convoy to make it safely across the Atlantic on the ship " Charon " . Due to the consequent paucity of soldiers , Inglis was prominently involved in the British invasion of St . Lucia and the capture of the Morne Fortuné fort . Inglis had operated as second - in - command to Sir John Moore , who admired his subordinate ' s abilities , and Inglis was also later engaged in the capture of the islands of Grenada and Trinidad . Whilst in the Caribbean , Inglis had been promoted to lieutenant colonel and in 1802 returned to Britain during the Peace of Amiens . He was employed until 1804 in raising a new second battalion of the 57th and in 1804 took over command of his new unit in the Channel Islands garrison . In the islands , Inglis found his men to be lacking discipline when off duty , referring to them as " fighting villains " , but was repeatedly praised for the morale and ability of his men . The regiment left the Channel Islands in 1809 after five years and was attached to Sir Arthur Wellesley ' s army in Portugal for service in the Peninsula War . Peninsula War . In Portugal , Inglis ' s battalion was attached to the brigade of General Richard Stewart , an officer whose ill - health caused responsibility for the brigade to fall to Inglis ( who had recently been promoted to colonel ) days before the Battle of Busaco on 27 September 1810 as Wellesley sought to inflict a defeat on André Masséna before withdrawing behind the Lines of Torres Vedras . The action was a success and Inglis performed well , retaining command of the brigade into the following year when the British army pursued the retreating Masséna . Inglis saw action during these operations in a skirmish at Pombal and action at Campo Mayor and Los Santos , when British forces withdrew from action in an attempt to surprise the French at the Battle of Albuera . Battle of Albuera . Albuera proved to be Inglis ' s most famous action . The British Army was led by William Beresford and tactical mistakes resulted in the destruction of the British left by French cavalry early in the action . Forced to face the main French attack with less support than anticipated , the brigade , now led by Daniel Hoghton suffered severely . Return to the Peninsula . Inglis was carried from the field close to death at the action ' s conclusion , and it was two days before surgeons could operate on him to remove the grapeshot . Beresford especially commended Inglis after the action , saying that " Nothing could exceed the conduct and gallantry of Colonel Inglis at the head of his regiment . " Inglis ' wounds were so severe that he was forced to return to Britain to recuperate and consequently missed the succeeding two years of the Peninsula War , spending much of 1812 running a court - martial board in Lisbon . In May 1813 he was again well enough for active command and was made a brigadier - general and then a major - general in command of a brigade of the 7th Division . With this unit , Inglis participated in the manoeuvres in the Pyrenees Mountains on the Franco - Spanish border and the ensuing Battle of the Pyrenees , where he stormed a defended rise on the French right at the head of his men and broke its defenders , allowing the British army to cover the valley and thus forcing a French withdrawal . During the action , Inglis had a horse shot from underneath him . In the campaigns of 1813 , Inglis was heavily engaged with the French in supporting Portuguese operations near Vera . At the battle , Inglis lost another horse and suffered heavy casualties in action with a very superior French force . In November 1813 , Inglis led his men across the Nivelle River and stormed and took the heights above it in the Battle of Nivelle , a successful action at which Inglis was slightly wounded in the foot . In February 1814 Inglis ' s brigade was again in action , at Airgavé and was engaged at the Battle of Orthez shortly afterwards where another horse was shot underneath him . Retirement . At the conclusion of the Peninsula War , Inglis returned to Britain and was voted thanks by both Houses of Parliament and made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath . He was also presented with medals for his service at Albuera , the Pyrenees and Nivelle with three clasps . During a lengthy retirement , Inglis married Mary Anne Raymond in 1822 and the couple had two sons , William and Raymond , who both later became army officers . In 1825 , Inglis was promoted to lieutenant general and returned to service as Lieutenant - Governor of Kinsale in Ireland in 1827 . Two years later Inglis was promoted to Governor of Cork and retained the post until his death . In 1830 he was also appointed colonel of the 57th Regiment , the unit he served with for 31 years . He died at Ramsgate in 1835 and was buried in Canterbury Cathedral , survived by his wife and two sons .