On 29 December 1808, during Sir John Moore's retreat to Corunna, several squadrons of the chasseurs of Napoleon's Imperial Guard forded the swollen River Esla near Benavente in northwest Spain to harass the British rear guard. Lord Henry Paget's cavalry, the 10th Hussars at their head, caught them on the open plain and drove them back across the river. Their commander, General Charles Lefebvre-Desnouettes, was taken prisoner.
The race to the Esla
In December 1808 Moore's British army had advanced into northern Spain to strike at the French communications, believing that Napoleon was tied down around Madrid. When it became clear that Napoleon was marching against him with far larger forces, Moore turned and retreated toward the port of Corunna. The first great obstacle on the road was the River Esla, crossed by a bridge at Castrogonzalo near Benavente.1
The British won the race to the river. Paget's cavalry division crossed the bridge, British infantry hacked at its masonry, and once the last regiment, the 3rd Hussars of the King's German Legion, was over, the remains of the span were blown up. Moore's infantry marched on, while part of the cavalry stayed on the Esla to delay the French.2
The fight on the plain
On the morning of 29 December Lefebvre-Desnouettes, commanding the cavalry of the Imperial Guard, found a place where his men could get across the river, which was running high after heavy rain, and swam or forded four squadrons of the Guard's mounted chasseurs over. Rickard estimates them at 500 to 600 men, and the British Battles account at about 650. At first they drove in the British pickets, and the 18th Light Dragoons and the King's German Legion hussars fought them in a series of charges and countercharges.3
Paget had held the 10th Hussars back behind Benavente. When the French pressed on toward the town, he led them round its edge and struck the chasseurs, and the French, now outnumbered, broke after a short resistance and fled back toward the ford. Two guns of the British horse artillery came up and fired grapeshot at those who tried to re-form on the far bank, and the French gave up any further crossing.4
A captured general
One of the last Frenchmen to reach the river was Lefebvre-Desnouettes himself, and he was taken prisoner. Who captured him is disputed. The 10th Hussars credited their trooper Levi Grisdall, while the history of the King's German Legion gives the honor to a young hussar named Bergman, and the British Battles account suggests that several men may share it. The general was taken to England, released on parole, and broke it to escape to France in 1811.5
The losses are given differently. Rickard writes that the British lost about 50 men and took 73 unwounded prisoners, with another 55 French dead or wounded left on the field and about 70 more wounded treated by Napoleon's surgeon. The British Battles account gives the French losses as 9 killed, 98 wounded and 45 captured, and the British as 12 killed and around 70 wounded. Moore's army went on to Corunna, and the battle fought there in January has its own page: 16 January, Corunna, 1809.6
