A descendant of Sir Christopher Packe, Pack was the son of the Very Reverend Thomas Pack, Dean of Ossory in the east of Ireland. His mother was Catherine, daughter and heiress of Denis Sullivan of Berehaven, Ireland.[1]
His tomb is in St Canice's Cathedral in Kilkenny, Ireland near Kilkenny Castle.
Tomb of Sir Denis Pack, Canice's Cathedral, Kilkenny
His regiment was incorporated to the forces of General William Beresford when he led the first British invasion to Buenos Aires in June of that year. Their regiment contributed more than half of the invading troops, and with them Beresford occupied Buenos Aires without greater resistance.
However, in the second week of August 1806, Santiago de Liniers would begin one of the most important events of Argentine History, reconquering the city and overcoming the English. Its officers and troops were taken prisoners and interned in different localities of the Viceroyalty of the Rio de la Plata.
General Beresford, together with Colonel Pack, were housed in the Villa of Luján. Both soldiers fled later to Montevideo, aided by local independentists. Once in Montevideo, Pack joined the division of General Robert Craufurd to join the second invasion to Buenos Aires, although he had taken the oath never again to take up arms against Spain.
Pack violated his oath, taking active part in the occupation of Colonia del Sacramento, which made the attack by Colonel Francisco Javier de Elío fail.
He accompanied Craufurd in the battle of Corrales de Miserere and in the attack on the city of Buenos Aires. He occupied with the men at his command the Church of Santo Domingo, where the local resistance forced him to rest; there he found the flag of his beloved 71st Regiment but, despite his efforts, he was overcome by the tenacity of the attack by the Buenos Aires regiments. He tried to abandon his position and the city, but the Buenos Aires forces gathered around him, and he was forced to surrender once again.
The people were looking for Pack to execute him for perjury, but the Dominican friars protected him until he was delivered to General John Whitelocke, at the beginning of the English retreat.
