| Battle Of Barrosa |
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The Battle of Barrosa ( March 5 , 1811 ) was a minor battle of the Peninsular War , near Cádiz . During an attempt to raise the French Siege of the city, an Anglo-Portuguese Division under the command of Sir Thomas Graham defeated two French divisions and captured a Regimental Eagle , although the siege was not lifted. BACKGROUND See Also: Siege of Cádiz From January 1810 , the Allied harbour of Cádiz, garrisoned by around 26,000 Spanish, British, Portuguese and German troops, had been under siege by approximately 25,000 French troops under the command of Marshal Victor .. In January 1811 , however, Marshal Soult ordered Victor to send almost a third of his troops to support Soult's assault on Badajoz , leaving a besieging French army of some 15,000 men.. PRELUDE TO BATTLE The Allies, following the reduction in the besieging French forces, saw a chance to both engage Marshal Victor in open battle and to raise the Siege Of Cádiz .. To that end, a force of Allied troops was sent by sea from Cádiz to Tarifa with the intention of marching north to engage the French rear at Chiclana . Since the sortie coming from Tarifa was comprised of some 8,000 Spanish troops and only 4,000 British troops, overall command was ceded to the Spanish General Manuel La Peña , generally regarded as incompetent.. It was planned that a force of 4,000 Spanish troops under General Zayas would sally from Cádiz, via a pontoon bridge from the Isla de León, the sally scheduled to coincide with the arrival of the main force.. The Anglo-Portuguese contingent, commanded by Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Graham , sailed from Cádiz on 21 February 1811. Due to bad weather, Graham's forces were unable to land at Tarifa and were forced to sail on to Algeciras , where they disembarked on 23 February .. By 27 February , they had joined with La Peña's troops, along with four squadrons of cavalry under Colonel Samuel Ford Whittingham (an English officer serving with the Spanish army), 1,000 infantry from Gibraltar and 1,600 Spaniards from an irregular force led by Beguines. ]] The combined force then marched north towards Chiclana, but because of further bad weather and La Peña's insistence on marching at night they were 2 days behind the planned schedule. La Peña sent a message to Zayas informing him of the delay to the schedule, but the dispatch was not received. Zayas, therefore, led the sally from Cádiz, as planned, on 3 March 1811. The sortie was defeated, with 300 Spanish casualties, by French forces under General Eugene Villatte . Zayas did, however, manage to establish and hold a bridgehead just north of Bermeja . Having reached Vejer on 4 March , La Peña saw the situation and abandoned the plan to attack the French siege lines, deciding instead to follow the coast road towards Cádiz. On 5 March , La Peña's advanced guard, with the aid of Zayas's troops, drove Villatte's force across the Almanza Creek, to the north-east, to occupy an area now known as "Pinar de los Franceses", a marshy region about 10 miles (15 km) east of the Barrosa beach.. In the meantime, Graham's division was left holding the Barrosa Ridge to defend the rear and right flank of La Peña's force. Meanwhile, Marshal Victor, well aware of the Allied manoeuvring, saw an opportunity to counter-attack. He ordered two French divisions, commanded by Leval and Ruffin, in to position to attack the flank of the Allies as they marched towards Cádiz.. BATTLE Flushed with his success at driving Villatte's force off the position denying the route to Cádiz, La Peña ordered Graham to move his troops forward from the Barrosa Ridge, to Bermeja, leaving the ridge undefended. Following Graham's strenuous objections to leaving a ridge that could result in an exposed rear and flank, a rearguard of five Spanish battalions and a British composite Battalion of flank companies, under the command of Colonel Browne, was left holding the ridge.. from the frontispiece of his biography by Alexander M. Delavoye published in 1880]] Graham's forces, leaving the rearguard behind, then moved north as ordered. However, midway through his march to join La Peña's Spaniards, Graham received news from Spanish (KGL) defending the ridge; reluctantly, the British infantry and KGL cavalry retreated, ceding their position on the ridge to the superior French force, only checking the French attempt to take the coastal road.. Realizing that the Allied force was in danger of being swamped by the attacking French divisions, Graham disregarded his orders and turned his Division to attack the Barrosa Ridge and defend against Leval's assault. He ordered Dilkes's Brigade to attack Ruffin's division on the ridge, whilst Wheatley's brigade was sent to see off the attack from Leval, coming from the east. Due to the time it took to deploy a full brigade into battle formation, Graham knew he needed to delay the French forces. Therefore, he ordered Browne's single 'Flankers' battalion, of 536 men, to advance up the slope of the Barrosa ridge against the 5,000 French troops and artillery holding the ridge, while Barnard led the light battalion of Wheatley's brigade to hold up Leval's division. The actions of Browne's and Barnard's troops allowed the main Anglo-Portuguese brigades to close on the French. On the ridge, Dilkes's brigade of 1,400 British infantrymen in line defeated the attacking 2,500 French troops, deployed in 6 columns. At the same time, Wheatley's brigade of 2,600 men were able to form up behind Barnard's light battalion, and succeeded in defeating Leval's division of 4,000 French troops who were deployed in column.. Wheatley's assault on the French saw Ensign Keogh of the 87th Regiment Of Foot (also known as The Prince of Wales' Irish Regiment of Foot) die attempting to capture a French Eagle ; Sergeant Patrick Masterson (or Masterman, depending on source) finally secured the Eagle, the first to be won in battle by British forces in the Peninsular wars, with the words, 'Bejabers, boys, I have the cuckoo!'.. Masterson was later given a battlefield promotion to captain for this feat. Having refused to support the British troops during the battle, La Peña declined to pursue the retreating French forces,. and Graham, furious, marched his men straight back to Cádiz. CONSEQUENCES Tactically, and in terms of casualties inflicted, the battle was a victory for the British troops. They had already marched a considerable distance during that day (and the preceding night), and were fighting a French force approaching twice their numbers. The British forces lost approximately 1,240 troops, London Gazette , 25 March 1811, quoted in . including men from the Portuguese and German troops under British command, while the Spaniards suffered 300–400 casualties;. the French lost about 2,380 in the battle. The success of the battle gave a much needed boost to Spanish morale, despite the failure of the Spanish General, La Peña, to give Graham adequate support.. La Peña, in fact, accused Graham of losing the battle for the Allies, following Graham's withdrawal to Cádiz. La Peña was subject to a Court-martial following the battle, for refusing to pursue the retreating French forces, but was acquitted (although he was relieved of command).. Graham's criticisms of his Spanish allies, at a time when relations were anyway strained, meant that he could no longer serve in Cádiz and he was transferred to Wellington 's main army.. In November 1811, the Prince Regent commanded that a medal be struck to commemorate the "brilliant Victory obtained over the Enemy", and awarded to the senior British officers present at the battle.. THE BATTLE IN FICTION
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