196 



ANNUAL REGISTER, I8O9. 



the French gazettes, than 30,000 

 men, descending from the Sierra 

 Morena, took up, on the 10th of 

 August, a strong position on cer- 

 tain heights amidst broken ground 

 near Almanacid, a town in Old 

 Castille, three leagues S. E. from 

 Toledo, where he was attacked 

 on the 2l!-t by a corps of French 

 under Sebastian!. Being driven 

 from post to post, he drew up his 

 troops on a plain, extending his 

 line on either hand, with a view of 

 turning the flanks of the enemy, 

 to as great a length as possible. 

 This line was penetrated in differ- 

 ent places by some squadrons of 

 French cavalry. The Spaniards 

 throwing down their arras, and 

 abandoning their artillery, ammu- 

 nition, and baggage, fled, every 

 one by himself or in small parties, 

 becoming still smaller and smaller 

 as they proceeded in their flight, 

 in a variety of directions towards 

 the mountains. They vvere pur- 

 sued by the French for about two 

 leagues ; but so completely were 

 they dispersed, that the French 

 cavalry, not being able to set their 

 eyes on any other than handfuls 

 of men in one place not worth 

 pursuing, gave over the pursuit. 

 Nevertheless, a great many prison- 

 ers, the French stated, fell into 

 their hands, to the number of some 

 thousands. 



In the command of the army of 

 La Mancha, general Venegas was 

 superseded by the marquis of 

 Ariezaga. It was strongly rein- 

 forced, and abundantly provided 

 with artillery, stores, provisions, 

 and the means of carriage. In 

 numbers it amounted to 50,000 

 men, infantry and cavalry. Arie- 

 zaga conceived the bold design of 

 quitting his strong ground in the 



Sierra' Morena, marching on Ma:' 

 drid, and bringing on a general 

 engagement ; with the French, 

 the issue of which' might reduce 

 them to the necessity of quitting 

 that city. The French army, con- 

 sisting of three corps headed b)' king 

 Joseph, waited for the Spaniards in 

 a strong position near Toledo. The 

 Spaniards on finding this, prudently 

 repassed the Tagus : the Frpnrh fol- 

 lowed them. The Spaniards con- 

 centrated their force near Ocana, a 

 city of La Mancha on the side of 

 New Castille, situated on an emi- 

 nence at the entrance of the vast 

 plain of La Mesada Ocana. About 

 nine o'clock in the morning of the 

 19th of November, the advanced 

 parties of the French came in 

 sight of the Spanish army. At 

 eleven o'clock the action com- 

 menced, and in two hours it was 

 decided in favour of the French. 

 The following notification was 

 published by order of king Joseph, 

 and set up, November 20th, in all 

 public places : — " Yesterday the 

 king gained a signal and deci- 

 sive victory at Ocana : two hours 

 were sufficient to disperse the 

 army of the insurgents, who ex- 

 pected within two days to make 

 their entry into Madrid. It was 

 dispersed or destroyed : four thou- 

 sand men were left dead on the 

 field of battle : twenty thousand 

 were made prisoneis, among whom 

 were 200 officers. From thirty to 

 forty thousand muskets, twenty 

 standards, thirty pieces of artil- 

 lery, and an incredible quantity of 

 baggage, were the results of this 

 splendid victory." This is, no 

 doubt, as usual on the part of the 

 French, great exaggeration ; but the 

 loss of the Spaniards was terribly 

 great, and the victory complete. 



Ocana 



