694 



BRITAIN. 



1808. 



Siege of 

 Saragossa. 



Britain. i 5e d for the protection of this defenceless city, 9000 

 ~*~ ' French, under the orders of general Le Febre, took 

 GionotHI. up a position on the heights which command Sara- 



1 sno A r i i 



gossa. A small party of cavalry even penetrated 

 into the town ; but they paid dearly for their rash 

 advance, being cut off to a man. The Saragossians 

 had hastily planted some cannon before the gates of 

 their city, and also in some favourable positions 

 without the town ] when, on the 1.5th of June, the 

 French sent a detachment against these out-posts, 

 while their main body attempted to storm the city at 

 one of their gates. The Saragossians resisted both 

 attacks with successful fury. They closed with the 

 French after single discharges, and overpowered 

 them. A party of the enemy that entered the town 

 were cut to pieces, and Le Febre retired beyond the 

 reach of their cannon, losing, in his retreat, 400 ca- 

 valry, and 27 baggage waggons. This was but the 

 prelude to a more dreadful siege. The French re- 

 ceiving reinforcements of troops and art/llery, had 

 again nearly invested the town before the expiration 

 of June, and reoccupied the adjacent heights. Du- 

 ring their advance, the Saragossians employed their 

 slender means of defence to the best advantage. They 

 tore down the curtains from their windows, and 

 formed them into sacks, which they filled with sand, 

 and piled up be-fore every gate in the form of a bat- 

 tery, digging round each of them a deep trench. 

 The gates of Saragossa are, in many places, con- 

 nected by the mud walls of gardens within the town, 

 in others by buildings, or by the remains of an old 

 Moorish wall, which had not even a platform for 

 musquctry. Through these intermediate houses, 

 and mud walls, the brave citizens broke holes for 

 musquetry and cannon. The houses in the environs 

 of the city were pulled down or burnt. Gardens 

 and olive grounds were cheerfully rooted up by the 

 proprietors, whenever they impeded the defence of 

 the city, or covered the approach of the enemy. The 

 exertions of the men were imitated by the women, 

 and even the children. 



The heroism of the citizens was only equalled by 

 their industry, and by the sagacity of those who con- 

 ducted the defence. Gunpowder was manufactured 

 within the walls of the city, though it was on fire in 

 every quarter. At the end of nearly two months, 

 every desperate effort had failed to recover the adja- 

 cent heights and the environs : the bodies, but not 

 the courage, of the besieged were almost exhausted. 

 On the 4th of August, the French opened a tremen- 

 dous fire on one quarter of the town : the mud walls 

 had been battered down : the French columns had 

 entered, and were in possession of one-half of the 

 city, even to the central street. The French gene- 

 ral then demanded a capitulation, in these words, 

 " Head quarters, Santa Engracia : The Capitula- 

 tion." He was answered in the following words : 

 " Head quarters, Saragossa: War to the knife." 

 The French occupied one side of the main street 

 called Corso. The Arragonese threw up their en- 

 trenchments within a few paces of them, on the op- 

 posite side. In day light, it was certain death to ap- 

 pear within this horrid interval ; but during the 



night, the combatants often dashed across the street 

 against each others batteries. At last the ammuni- 

 tion of the Spaniards began to fail, and the people 

 were calling out to be led to attack the enemy with 

 only their knives, when, at this awful crisis, a convoy 

 of provisions and ammunition, and 3000 Spanish 

 guards, Swiss and volunteers of Arragon, unexpect- 

 edly found their way into the city, under Don Fran- 

 cis Palafox, the brother of the general. A council 

 of war now determined, that if the whole of Sara- 

 gossa should be consumed, the patriots should retire 

 over the Ebro to the suburbs, and defend them till 

 they perished. The people shouted when they heard 

 the resolution. For eleven days the conflict was con- 

 tinued from house to house, from room to room, 

 when the French had again lost all but about an 

 eighth part of the city. During the night of the 

 13th of August, the fire of the French was particu- 

 larly destructive ; and, when their batteries ceased, 

 flames were seen to burst out in many parts of the 

 buildings in their possession. On the morning of 

 the 14th, to the great surprise of the Saragossians, 

 the enemy's columns were seen at a distance retreat- 

 ing over the plain, on the road to Pampelmia. 



In Catalonia, the French general Duhesme had 

 been directed to reduce Gerona, at the same time 

 that Le Febre was sent against Saragossa ; but, after 

 spending a month in the siege, he was threatened 

 by the insurgents in flank, and precipitately retreat- 

 ed. The French prevented (but with the utmost 

 difficulty) the patriots from cutting off the commu- 

 nications of Figueras, and investing Barcelona. Such 

 were the successes of the patriots in the south and 

 east ; while their affairs in the north of Spain wore a 

 much less favourable aspect, from the fate of a battle 

 which they lost at Medina del Rio Seco, in the pro- 

 vince of Leon. Marshal Bessieres, while he dis- 

 patched a force against Saragossa, had also pushed 

 forward columns against Segovia, Logrono, Valla- 

 dolid, and St Andero. Segovia was taken, after the 

 defeat and dispersion of the peasantry before its 

 walls. The town and province of Palentia was also 

 disarmed, and the members of the council of the cap- 

 tured towns were deputed to go to Bayonne, there 

 to supplicate the forgiveness of Joseph Bonaparte, 

 and swear fealty to his Catholic majesty. General 

 Merle had proceeded to the mountains of St Andero 

 on the 21st of June, and defeated the natives under 

 their patriotic bishop in one quarter, while General 

 Ducos drove them from post to post into the town 

 from other points. The French generals then enter- 

 ed St Andero on different sides: the peasants re- 

 turned to their homes ; and the city swore fealty to 

 the usurper. But the severest blow to the patriotic 

 cause, was the defeat of the army of the western 

 provinces under Cuesta. That general, whose forces 

 comprehended all the prisoners restored by the Bri- 

 tish government,* >was attacked (on the 14th of July) 

 on the high grounds of Medina del Rio Seco by Ge- 

 neral Bessieres. All the positions of his raw troops 

 were carried. He lost all his artillery, his baggage, 

 stores, and the better part of his army. The Spa- 

 niards fled through Benevento as far as Astorga. 



Britain 





Operatic 

 of th 

 French a 



nl 



Defeat 6 

 theSpani 



9 



* Cuesta's army, by the French account, amounted to 35,000 ; by that of the Spaniard?, to Jess than 16,Q00. The French 

 avmy were at least 12,000 strong, and had a large force of cavalry. 



