Siege of Tarragona (1813)
Encyclopedia
In the Siege of Tarragona (June 3 - June 11, 1813), an overwhelming Anglo-Allied force commanded by Lieutenant General
John Murray, 8th Baronet failed to capture the Spanish port of Tarragona
from a small Franco-Italian garrison led by General of Brigade
Antoine Bertoletti
.
, inflicted a sharp check on Marshal
Louis Gabriel Suchet
's corps at the Battle of Castalla
in April. After this action, General Arthur Wellesley, Marquess of Wellington
ordered Murray to attack Tarragona, which is on the east coast of Spain. The port is about 50 miles southwest of Barcelona
. Wellington planned to launch his summer 1813 offensive against King Joseph Bonaparte
's French armies. By attacking Tarragona, Wellington wished to prevent Suchet from reinforcing Joseph.
On June 2, Rear-Admiral Benjamin Hallowell Carew
's squadron put Murray's 16,000 men ashore at Salou Bay, six miles south of Tarragona. They soon met General Francisco Copons' division of 7,000 Spanish soldiers. On June 3 the Allied army laid siege
to the town.
batteries, plus some unassigned units. General William Clinton
's 1st Division was made up of the 1/58th Regiment of Foot
and 2/67th Regiment of Foot, the 4th King's German Legion
and 2 battalions of the Sicilian Estero Regiment. General John Mackenzie's 2nd Division was made up of the 1/10th Regiment of Foot
, 1/27th Regiment of Foot and 1/81st Regiment of Foot, De Roll's Swiss and the 2nd Italian Regiment. The cavalry force included two squadrons each of the 20th Light Dragoons and the Brunswick Hussars. The Calabrian Free Corps and the 1st Italian Regiment were unbrigade
d. Murray's 18 heavy siege guns were the same ones that Wellington used to breach the walls during the Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo
and at the Battle of Badajoz in 1812
. Rufane Shaw Donkin
served as Murray's chief-of-staff.
Bertoletti's garrison included a battalion each from the French 20th Line Infantry and the 7th Italian Infantry Regiments, two companies of artillerists and some French sailors. The defenses had not been restored since Suchet had captured the town in the first Siege of Tarragona
in 1811. In any case, the 1,600 men were too few to man the outer walls, so Bertoletti abandoned them and pulled his men back into the old town. He left small garrisons in two outworks, the Bastion of San Carlos and Fort Royal.
. Instead of immediately storming the two weak outworks, Murray insisted on establishing breaching batteries. By June 7, Fort Royal lay helpless under the bombardment. Yet, Murray decided to wait until June 11 before mounting an assault on the outwork.
When he heard Tarragona was attacked, Suchet and 8,000 men began to march north from Valencia. From Barcelona, General of Division
Charles Decaen sent General of Division Maurice Mathieu and 6,000 men southward. Suchet planned for the two columns to rendezvous at Reus
, 10 miles inland from Tarragona.
Murray became increasingly anxious about the twin French threats. On June 9 he issued secret orders to withdraw from the siege. On June 11, he rode to Copons and found that Mathieu was approaching. Promising to reinforce Copons with British troops, he hastened back to his siege lines. Hearing fresh rumors that both Suchet and Mathieu were bearing down on him, Murray panicked. He abandoned the planned assault and ordered the stores to be sent back aboard ship. Late that night, Murray ordered that the heavy guns to be withdrawn at once. His chief gunner told him it was impossible to bring off the guns in less than 30 hours.
It was all unnecessary. Suchet heard of a Spanish threat to Valencia and retreated. Mathieu brushed with Copons' outposts, found he was facing a combined army of 23,000 men and fell back northward.
Meanwhile, Murray issued a flurry of often contradictory orders. These only added to the confusion and infuriated Hallowell. By the night of June 12, the entire force was taken on board the ships, leaving the 18 siege guns spiked and many stores left behind. Copons was advised to flee into the mountains. An amazed Bertoletti sent a messenger to Mathieu that the coast was clear.
Soon, Murray decided to land his army at Balaguer, which was accomplished on June 15. He convinced Copons to support the second landing, which the Spanish general loyally did. Mathieu force-marched his troops into Tarragona on the following day. When Murray heard that French soldiers were at hand he immediately ordered that his army be re-embarked, to Hallowell's disgust. Copons was left in the lurch once more. On June 18, the Mediterranean Fleet hove over the horizon. Lord William Bentinck
relieved Murray of command and the thwarted expedition sailed back to Alicante.
on June 21. In 1814, Murray was court-martialled for his conduct before Tarragona. He was acquitted of all charges except that of abandoning his guns without just cause, for which he was admonished by the court.
Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages where the title of Lieutenant General was held by the second in command on the battlefield, who was normally subordinate to a Captain General....
John Murray, 8th Baronet failed to capture the Spanish port of Tarragona
Tarragona
Tarragona is a city located in the south of Catalonia on the north-east of Spain, by the Mediterranean. It is the capital of the Spanish province of the same name and the capital of the Catalan comarca Tarragonès. In the medieval and modern times it was the capital of the Vegueria of Tarragona...
from a small Franco-Italian garrison led by General of Brigade
Brigadier General
Brigadier general is a senior rank in the armed forces. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries, usually sitting between the ranks of colonel and major general. When appointed to a field command, a brigadier general is typically in command of a brigade consisting of around 4,000...
Antoine Bertoletti
Antoine Marc Augustin Bertoletti
Antoine Marc Augustin Bertoletti was a Milanese military officer who served the French Empire as a general of brigade, notably in the Peninsular War.-Military career:...
.
Background
Murray's Anglo-Sicilian-Spanish army, based on AlicanteAlicante
Alicante or Alacant is a city in Spain, the capital of the province of Alicante and of the comarca of Alacantí, in the south of the Valencian Community. It is also a historic Mediterranean port. The population of the city of Alicante proper was 334,418, estimated , ranking as the second-largest...
, inflicted a sharp check on Marshal
Marshal of France
The Marshal of France is a military distinction in contemporary France, not a military rank. It is granted to generals for exceptional achievements...
Louis Gabriel Suchet
Louis Gabriel Suchet
Louis Gabriel Suchet, 1st Duc d'Albufera was a Marshal of France and one of Napoleon's most brilliant generals.-Early career:...
's corps at the Battle of Castalla
Battle of Castalla
In the Battle of Castalla on 13 April 1813, an Anglo-Spanish-Sicilian force commanded by Lieutenant General John Murray, 8th Baronet fought Marshal Louis Gabriel Suchet's French Army of Valencia and Aragon. Murray's troops successfully repelled a series of French attacks causing Suchet to retreat....
in April. After this action, General Arthur Wellesley, Marquess of Wellington
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, KG, GCB, GCH, PC, FRS , was an Irish-born British soldier and statesman, and one of the leading military and political figures of the 19th century...
ordered Murray to attack Tarragona, which is on the east coast of Spain. The port is about 50 miles southwest of Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
. Wellington planned to launch his summer 1813 offensive against King Joseph Bonaparte
Joseph Bonaparte
Joseph-Napoléon Bonaparte was the elder brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, who made him King of Naples and Sicily , and later King of Spain...
's French armies. By attacking Tarragona, Wellington wished to prevent Suchet from reinforcing Joseph.
On June 2, Rear-Admiral Benjamin Hallowell Carew
Benjamin Hallowell Carew
Admiral Sir Benjamin Hallowell Carew GCB, was a senior officer in the Royal Navy...
's squadron put Murray's 16,000 men ashore at Salou Bay, six miles south of Tarragona. They soon met General Francisco Copons' division of 7,000 Spanish soldiers. On June 3 the Allied army laid siege
Siege
A siege is a military blockade of a city or fortress with the intent of conquering by attrition or assault. The term derives from sedere, Latin for "to sit". Generally speaking, siege warfare is a form of constant, low intensity conflict characterized by one party holding a strong, static...
to the town.
Forces
Murray organized his army into one Spanish and two British infantry divisions, some cavalry, 2 British and 1 Portuguese field artilleryField artillery
Field artillery is a category of mobile artillery used to support armies in the field. These weapons are specialized for mobility, tactical proficiency, long range, short range and extremely long range target engagement....
batteries, plus some unassigned units. General William Clinton
William Henry Clinton
General Sir William Henry Clinton GCB was a British general during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars as well as the First Miguelist War...
's 1st Division was made up of the 1/58th Regiment of Foot
58th Regiment of Foot
Three regiments of the British Army have been numbered the 58th Regiment of Foot:* 47th Regiment of Foot, 58th Regiment of Foot, numbered as the 58th Foot in 1747 and renumbered as the 47th in 1751...
and 2/67th Regiment of Foot, the 4th King's German Legion
King's German Legion
The King's German Legion was a British Army unit of expatriate German personnel, 1803–16. The Legion achieved the distinction of being the only German force to fight without interruption against the French during the Napoleonic Wars....
and 2 battalions of the Sicilian Estero Regiment. General John Mackenzie's 2nd Division was made up of the 1/10th Regiment of Foot
10th Regiment of Foot
The 10th Regiment of Foot was raised on 20 June 1685 as the Earl of Bath's Regiment for its first Colonel John Granville, 1st Earl of Bath...
, 1/27th Regiment of Foot and 1/81st Regiment of Foot, De Roll's Swiss and the 2nd Italian Regiment. The cavalry force included two squadrons each of the 20th Light Dragoons and the Brunswick Hussars. The Calabrian Free Corps and the 1st Italian Regiment were unbrigade
Brigade
A brigade is a major tactical military formation that is typically composed of two to five battalions, plus supporting elements depending on the era and nationality of a given army and could be perceived as an enlarged/reinforced regiment...
d. Murray's 18 heavy siege guns were the same ones that Wellington used to breach the walls during the Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo
Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo
In the Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo, the Duke of Wellington's Anglo-Portuguese Army seized the city from its French garrison under Brigadier General Baron Barrié on January 20, 1812 after a siege that started on January 7...
and at the Battle of Badajoz in 1812
Battle of Badajoz (1812)
In the Battle of Badajoz , the Anglo-Portuguese Army, under the Earl of Wellington, besieged Badajoz, Spain and forced the surrender of the French garrison....
. Rufane Shaw Donkin
Rufane Shaw Donkin
Sir Rufane Shaw Donkin GCH KCB , was a British army officer of the Napoleonic era and later Member of Parliament.-Family:Rufane Donkin came of a military family and was the eldest child...
served as Murray's chief-of-staff.
Bertoletti's garrison included a battalion each from the French 20th Line Infantry and the 7th Italian Infantry Regiments, two companies of artillerists and some French sailors. The defenses had not been restored since Suchet had captured the town in the first Siege of Tarragona
Siege of Tarragona (1811)
In the Siege of Tarragona from 5 May to 29 June 1811, Louis Gabriel Suchet's French Army of Aragon laid siege to a Spanish garrison led by Lieutenant General Juan Senen de Contreras. A British naval squadron commanded by Admiral Edward Codrington harassed the French besiegers with cannon fire and...
in 1811. In any case, the 1,600 men were too few to man the outer walls, so Bertoletti abandoned them and pulled his men back into the old town. He left small garrisons in two outworks, the Bastion of San Carlos and Fort Royal.
Siege
Copons and his division were sent to the north to block the road from Barcelona. A British force occupied a fort to the south at BalaguerBalaguer
Balaguer is the capital of the comarca of Noguera, in the province of Lleida, Catalonia, Spain.It is located by the river Segre, a tributary to the Ebre....
. Instead of immediately storming the two weak outworks, Murray insisted on establishing breaching batteries. By June 7, Fort Royal lay helpless under the bombardment. Yet, Murray decided to wait until June 11 before mounting an assault on the outwork.
When he heard Tarragona was attacked, Suchet and 8,000 men began to march north from Valencia. From Barcelona, General of Division
Major General
Major general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general...
Charles Decaen sent General of Division Maurice Mathieu and 6,000 men southward. Suchet planned for the two columns to rendezvous at Reus
Reus
Reus is the capital of the comarca of Baix Camp, in the province of Tarragona, in Catalonia, Spain. The area has always been an important producer of wines and spirits, and gained continental importance at the time of the Phylloxera plague...
, 10 miles inland from Tarragona.
Murray became increasingly anxious about the twin French threats. On June 9 he issued secret orders to withdraw from the siege. On June 11, he rode to Copons and found that Mathieu was approaching. Promising to reinforce Copons with British troops, he hastened back to his siege lines. Hearing fresh rumors that both Suchet and Mathieu were bearing down on him, Murray panicked. He abandoned the planned assault and ordered the stores to be sent back aboard ship. Late that night, Murray ordered that the heavy guns to be withdrawn at once. His chief gunner told him it was impossible to bring off the guns in less than 30 hours.
It was all unnecessary. Suchet heard of a Spanish threat to Valencia and retreated. Mathieu brushed with Copons' outposts, found he was facing a combined army of 23,000 men and fell back northward.
Meanwhile, Murray issued a flurry of often contradictory orders. These only added to the confusion and infuriated Hallowell. By the night of June 12, the entire force was taken on board the ships, leaving the 18 siege guns spiked and many stores left behind. Copons was advised to flee into the mountains. An amazed Bertoletti sent a messenger to Mathieu that the coast was clear.
Soon, Murray decided to land his army at Balaguer, which was accomplished on June 15. He convinced Copons to support the second landing, which the Spanish general loyally did. Mathieu force-marched his troops into Tarragona on the following day. When Murray heard that French soldiers were at hand he immediately ordered that his army be re-embarked, to Hallowell's disgust. Copons was left in the lurch once more. On June 18, the Mediterranean Fleet hove over the horizon. Lord William Bentinck
Lord William Bentinck
Lieutenant-General Lord William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck GCB, GCH, PC , known as Lord William Bentinck, was a British soldier and statesman...
relieved Murray of command and the thwarted expedition sailed back to Alicante.
Results
Aside from the 18 lost siege guns, the Anglo-Allies lost 15 killed, 82 wounded and five missing. French losses were 13 killed and 85 wounded. The Tarragona fiasco did not affect Wellington's 1813 campaign, which ended in a decisive Anglo-Allied victory over King Joseph at the Battle of VitoriaBattle of Vitoria
At the Battle of Vitoria an allied British, Portuguese, and Spanish army under General the Marquess of Wellington broke the French army under Joseph Bonaparte and Marshal Jean-Baptiste Jourdan near Vitoria in Spain, leading to eventual victory in the Peninsular War.-Background:In July 1812, after...
on June 21. In 1814, Murray was court-martialled for his conduct before Tarragona. He was acquitted of all charges except that of abandoning his guns without just cause, for which he was admonished by the court.