June to 18 July 1808
Dupont in Andalusia
In June 1808 Napoleon sends flying columns against the centres of the revolt. Divisional General Pierre Dupont de l’Étang marches south with 13,000 men, most of them second-line troops, towards Seville and Cádiz, where a French squadron under Admiral Rosilly lies in harbour. Early in June he forces the bridge at Alcolea and takes Córdoba, which his troops plunder for four days. With Andalusia rising around him, he falls back up the Guadalquivir to Andújar on 16 June with some 500 wagons of loot and 1,200 sick.
General Vedel follows with Dupont’s 2nd Division, 6,000 men, 700 horse and 12 guns, storms the pass of the Puerta del Rey in the Sierra Morena on 26 June and joins him. Orders from Madrid tell Dupont to halt and wait for reinforcements. He keeps two divisions at Andújar, posts Vedel at Bailén and a forward post of 1,500 men under General Liger-Belair at Mengíbar. With the brigades of Generals Gobert and Lefranc, who arrive on 15 July, he has over 20,000 men along the river.
General Francisco Javier Castaños forms the Army of Andalusia, about 30,000 men, in four divisions under Theodor von Reding, the Marquis of Coupigny, Félix Jones and Manuel Lapeña. On 15 July Castaños with 14,000 men opens fire on Andújar from the heights of Arjonilla. The next day Reding fords the Guadalquivir above Mengíbar and drives out Liger-Belair. Gobert comes up from Bailén to close the gap and is shot in the head, and General Dufour takes his brigade back to Bailén.
General Francisco Javier Castaños, portrait by José María Galván y Candela, 19th century, Prado MuseumWikimedia Commons, José María Galván y Candela, Public domain (General Francisco Javier Castaños (Museo del Prado).jpg)
Dupont calls Vedel’s division to Andújar on 15 July and sends it back to Bailén the next day. Dufour, warned of 10,000 Spaniards marching on the passes, goes north to La Carolina, and Vedel follows him on 17 July, leaving Bailén empty. Reding and Coupigny cross at Mengíbar and occupy the empty town. On the night of 18 July Dupont leaves Andújar for Bailén with his wagons, Reding marches west against him, and Vedel turns back from La Carolina.
Monument to the victory of 1808 in Bailén, by Vicente Sánchez and Antonio Rivas, 1987Wikimedia Commons, Alta Falisa, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Bailén, Monument to the Victory of 1808.JPG)
Sources
- Charles Oman, A History of the Peninsular War, vol. I (1902).
- Charles J. Esdaile, The Peninsular War: A New History (2003).
- David Gates, The Spanish Ulcer: A History of the Peninsular War (1986).
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