On 5 March 1811, at Barrosa on the Spanish coast south of Cadiz, a British and Portuguese division under Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Graham was caught on the march by two French divisions of Marshal Victor. Graham turned his men around, attacked uphill and out of a pine wood, and broke both French divisions. The British 87th Foot captured an eagle of the French 8th Line. The Spanish commander, General Manuel La Peña, sent no help, and the French siege of Cadiz went on.
A sortie to break the siege of Cadiz
Since early 1810 a French army under Marshal Victor had besieged Cadiz, the port that sheltered the Spanish government. Early in 1811 Marshal Soult took a large part of Victor's troops for his campaign in Estremadura, and the allies in Cadiz saw a chance to fight Victor in the open. An Anglo-Spanish force went south by sea to land behind the French lines and march back on them. PeninsularWar.org has Graham landing at Algeciras on 23 February with about 4,000 men. Overall command went to La Peña, whom PeninsularWar.org describes as generally held to be incompetent.1
Victor set a trap. General Villatte's division blocked the coast road to Cadiz, while the divisions of Generals Ruffin and Leval waited out of sight near Chiclana, ready to strike the allied column from the flank.2
Graham turns back
After a long night march the allies reached Barrosa hill early on 5 March. The Spanish attacked Villatte and, helped by a sortie from Cadiz under General Zayas, pushed him back across the Almanza creek. Around noon La Peña ordered Graham to bring his division north to join the main body, leaving five Spanish battalions and one British battalion under Colonel Browne on the hill. Graham's men marched off through a pine wood that hid the wider field from view.3
At about half past twelve Victor struck. Ruffin's division climbed the hill, the Spanish battalions left it, and Browne followed. PeninsularWar.org says Graham was warned by Spanish guerrillas and turned back at once. HistoryOfWar.org gives him about 5,000 men against 6,800 under Ruffin and Leval. He sent Browne's 536 men straight up the slope to gain time; they lost 236 men, almost half, under fire from the French guns on the summit. Then Brigadier-General Dilkes led the Guards brigade, about 1,400 men, up the hill on the right, where the ground gave cover. Ruffin's columns, and then two battalions of grenadiers, were stopped by the British line and broke.4
The eagle of the 8th Line
In the woods Colonel Wheatley's brigade met Leval's division of about 3,800 men. Wheatley had 1,600 men according to PeninsularWar.org and 1,680 according to HistoryOfWar.org. In the center of his line the 2nd battalion of the 87th Foot, Hugh Gough's Irish regiment, drove through the battalions of the French 8th Line and took one of the regiment's eagles. The National Army Museum credits the capture to Sergeant Patrick Masterson. The same site notes that the French 54th Line held out longer, but gave way when charged for the third time.5
A victory thrown away
Throughout the fight La Peña kept his Spanish troops in a defensive line on the Bermeja peninsula and refused to help, even when Zayas protested. Graham had won, but at a heavy price. HistoryOfWar.org counts 413 casualties in Dilkes's brigade and 304 in Wheatley's, and 850 in Ruffin's division and 337 in Villatte's fight with the Spanish. The same account lists Ruffin and General Chaudron-Rousseau among the French dead.6
On 6 March an angry Graham refused to serve under La Peña any longer and took his men back into the Isla de León. The French, who had decided at a council of war to abandon the siege lines if attacked again, were left free to resume the siege. HistoryOfWar.org adds that Graham soon joined Wellington's army in Portugal; see our article on the Duke of Wellington.7
Note: strengths and losses differ between sources, and the text names the source for each figure.
