Marshal André Masséna, Duke of Rivoli, Prince of Essling (1756–1817). Masséna served in the French infantry from 1775 to 1789 when he left the service. He rejoined the army in 1792 and was a major-general by 1793. He campaigned with Bonaparte in Italy and was truly outstanding in the Swiss campaign of 1799–1800, winning the battle of Zurich against the Austrians and Russians. A marshal in 1804, esteemed by Napoleon, Masséna also had a taste for looting. His strategic and tactical talents were instinctive as he never pursued theoretical studies since he disliked reading. Following the Austrian campaign of 1809, Napoleon had entrusted the conquest of Portugal to Masséna, who was then considered one of his best marshals and was nicknamed l’enfant chéri de la victoire (the cherished child of victory) by the French. Nevertheless, victory eluded him as he marched deeper and deeper into Portugal. The battle of Bussaco, fought on 27 September 1810 (see Campaign 97 Bussaco 1810), was a rude surprise for the overconfident French army. Masséna reacted quickly and managed to outflank the Anglo-Portuguese army, something which his opponent had foreseen as a whole strategy had been developed with the Lines of Torres Vedras as a bulwark. When faced with this new and unforeseen obstacle, Masséna did not bother with a personal reconnaissance for some days, displaying a tired, laissez-faire attitude that seems to have afflicted him throughout the campaign. Wellington was on his guard nevertheless as he respected Masséna as a ‘sly old fox’ of a tactician, which he certainly demonstrated at Fuentes de Oñoro. Replaced by Marshal Marmont on 11 May, Masséna was never again entrusted with senior commands.
Marshal André Masséna, Duke of Rivoli, Prince of Essling (1756–1817). Print after a c.1808 portrait by Fontaine.
Marshal André Masséna, Duke of Rivoli, Prince of Essling (1756–1817). Print after a c.1800 portrait taken when he was at the peak of his tactical abilities.
Marshal Michel Ney, Duke of Elchingen (1769–1815). Originally a law clerk, Ney joined the hussars in 1788 as a private, was a brigadier-general by 1794 and marshal in 1804. Temperamental and occasionally an extraordinary tactician, he was outstanding in action and a superb leader of men in battle. He commanded the 6th Corps during the 1810–1811 Portuguese campaign but detested Masséna, who finally relieved him from duty in March 1811, much to the chagrin of the men. Napoleon later gave Ney other corps commands and named him Prince of the Moskova for his outstanding conduct in Russia. Following the abdication of Napoleon in 1814, Ney rallied to the Royalist Government. When Napoleon returned from Elba in the spring of 1815, Ney at first promised King Louis XVIII he would capture Napoleon but, like so many of his soldiers, he rejoined the emperor instead. He fought with great bravery at Waterloo, charging with the French cavalry. Accused of treason by the royal government following Napoleon’s final exile, Ney was executed by firing squad in the moat of Vincennes castle. He remained ‘the bravest of the brave’, as Napoleon once called him, to the end. His last words were to the soldiers of his firing squad: ‘aim at the heart, that is where brave men should be hit!’
Marshal Michel Ney, Duke of Elchingen (1769–1815). Ney, who led the 6th Corps of Masséna’s army, was one the most valiant battlefield commanders of the imperial army. However, the two men could not get along and Masséna dismissed Ney from his command in March 1811. (Print after Meissonier)
General Jean-Louis Reynier (1771–1814) was a Swiss who joined the French army in 1792 and rose to general in 1795 thanks to his exceptional efficiency. Although a strict disciplinarian Reynier was humane, brave and honest but also cold and taciturn. As a result, he was not well liked by his troops. After the 1810–1811 campaign, he went on to serve in Russia in 1812 and Germany the following year.
General Andoche Junot, Duke of Abrantes (1771–1813), was one of Napoleon’s closest friends during his early career. He campaigned in Italy in the 1790s and fought at Austerlitz. He was a good soldier if not an outstanding general. Previously ambassador to Portugal, he and his men managed to occupy the country without resistance in November 1807, being named Duke of Abrantes by Napoleon as a result. However, he was expelled once the British landed in August 1808. Junot was given command of the 8th Army Corps for the 1810–1811 campaign, but his corps was usually held in reserve. He later commanded it in Russia.
General Jean-Baptiste Drouet D’Erlon commanded the 9th Corps sent to reinforce Masséna. His corps made a series of courageous attacks in an attempt to secure the village of Fuentes de Oñoro on 5 May 1811 but to no avail. Drouet campaigned until the final battle at Toulouse in 1814 and fought at Waterloo in 1815.
General Andoche Junot, Duke of Abrantes (1771–1813). He commanded the 8th Corps of Masséna’s army.
Jean-Baptiste-Maurice Loison (1771–1816) rose through the ranks by his sheer bravery in numerous campaigns. Wounded several times, he lost an arm in combat. He came to Portugal with Junot as a general of division in late 1807 and was a redoubtable opponent who would immediately pounce on his enemy’s mistakes. There was a darker side to Loison, however. He was a cruel individual who believed that only wanton violence, especially against the weak and defenceless, would subdue the Portuguese. He replaced Marshal Ney in command of the 6th Corps but did not have the tactical ability of his predecessor. After serving in Portugal and Spain, he fought with distinction in Russia in 1812, in Germany in 1813 and held Hamburg in 1814. He retired as a much-decorated, hard-fighting soldier.
Marshal Jean-Baptiste Bessières, Duke of Istria (1766–1813), was the commander of the Imperial Guard cavalry and an intelligent officer who cared for his men. On 8 January 1811 Napoleon regrouped several commands in northern Spain and named Bessières commander of the 70,000-man ‘Army of the North’, which included units from the Imperial Guard. Masséna accused him, perhaps with some justification, of failing to assist him during the battle of Fuentes de Oñoro. He was killed in action in Germany in early 1813.
Marshal Auguste Frédéric Marmont, Duke of Ragusa (1774–1852), replaced Masséna in command of the ‘Army of Portugal’ in May, reorganised it into a fearsome force, and frequently outmanoeuvred Wellington until defeated at Salamanca in 1812, where he was badly wounded. He later campaigned in Germany and France during 1813–1814 until, discouraged, he went over to the Allies.
Marshal Jean-Baptiste Bessières, Duke of Istria (1766–1813), Colonel-General of the cavalry of the Imperial Guard and commander of the French Army of the North in Spain. His role in the battle of Fuentes de Oñoro on 5 May 1811 was nebulous to say the least. (Print after JOB)
Sir Arthur Wellesley, Viscount Wellington (1769–1852). The future Duke of Wellington campaigned in Holland during 1794–1795, was in India from 1796, where he won much distinction for his victories over the Mahrattas at Assaye and Argaun in 1803. Back in England in 1806, he led a brigade at Copenhagen in 1807. Promoted to lieutenant-general, he was given command of the British troops landing in Portugal in July 1808. He performed brilliantly during August beating the French at Roliça and Vimeiro. He was appointed marshal-general of the Portuguese forces and thus became the commander-in-chief of the Allied army on 29 April 1809. Wellington retook Porto from Marshal Soult in April 1809 and beat Marshal Victor at Talavera on 27 August confirming his talents as a general. The invasion of Portugal in 1810 put a great strain on Wellington. Sir John Colborne’s statement that the ‘responsibility of repelling the invasion rested on the shoulders of Lord Wellington’ was certainly true and a heavy burden it must have been. But, tireless worker though he was, he knew how to relax and was often out hunting with the pack of hounds he kept, even on campaign. Following the battle of Fuentes de Oñoro in May 1811, Wellington campaigned successfully in Spain in 1812–1813 and was in southern France by 1814. His victory over Napoleon at Waterloo on 18 June 1815 won him an honoured place in the pantheon of history’s great generals. He later became commander-in-chief of the British army and prime minister.
Lieutenant-General Arthur Wellesley, Viscount Wellington (1769–1852), commander in chief of the Allied forces in 1810. He was appointed to command the British forces in Portugal in April 1809 and appointed marshal-general of the Portuguese army on 6 July. He was created a peer with the title of Viscount Wellington on 26 August 1809. In this print after Thomas Lawrence’s 1814 portrait, Wellington is shown in his usual dress on campaign, a frock coat and a cape if the weather got chilly.
Major-General Thomas Picton (1758–1815) campaigned in the West Indies and was governor of Trinidad until 1806 when he returned to England. In early 1810, Picton was sent to Portugal at Wellington’s request and appointed to command the 3rd Division. Picton’s performance during the 1810–1811 campaign in Portugal was outstanding. His 3rd Division was heavily engaged in the battle of Bussaco, often forming the rearguard in the subsequent retreat to Torres Vedras. With the Light Division, Picton’s Division was the spearhead of Wellington’s army and performed brilliantly in the pursuit of the French army to the Spanish border. Picton could always be depended upon to put the pressure on the enemy. He had a very good tactical eye on the battlefield, loved his men as well as roundly cursing them on numerous occasions. They in turn, respected and admired their general for his rough yet fatherly ways. He went on to distinguished service during the rest of the Peninsular War but was killed at Waterloo.
A good many other field officers served ably during the campaign. Wellington was very relieved to see Brigadier-General Robert Craufurd, the talented commander of his Light Division, return from leave in England in the nick of time for the battle of Fuentes de Oñoro. A good thing too, as the division was, typically, heavily engaged in holding the Allied southern flank. It was a welcome relief as its interim commander, Sir William Erskine, ‘generally understood to be a madman’ according to Wellington, might not have done as well, bearing in mind his dubious performance at Sabugal.3 Stapleton Cotton (1773–1865) was the cavalry ‘beau sabreur’ general of the British forces in Portugal. He did not have many troopers to counter the masses of French cavalry, but he made the most of those he did have, making especially good use of his light cavalry, which seemed to be everywhere during the campaign. Major-General Rowland Hill was Wellington’s most trusted independent corps commander at the Lines of Torres Vedras and later in eastern Portugal, but he became ill with malaria at the end of 1810. Richard Fletcher of the Royal Engineers did outstanding work supervising the building of the lines, although the contribution of the Portuguese to their construction was more significant than previously thought by British historians, as outlined below.
Major-General Robert Craufurd (1764–1812), commander of the Light Division. A fine light troops leader, the 1810 campaign started badly for Craufurd, who was almost trapped by Marshal Ney’s troops at the River Coa, but he was outstanding at Bussaco a few weeks later. He was then sent on leave to England but was back in time to resume command of his division just before the battle of Fuentes de Oñoro.
Major-General Thomas Picton (1758–1815) commanded the 3rd Division in the Anglo-Portuguese army. It saw action on 3 May and was heavily engaged on 5 May. (Print after Beechey)
Marshal William Carr Beresford (1768–1854) was the commander-in-chief of the Portuguese army from 1809 until 1820, and he was one of the officers upon whom Wellington depended most for counsel and support. Beresford was commissioned in 1785 and saw much action in the Mediterranean, India, Egypt, the Cape of Good Hope and Buenos Aires. In late 1807, as Portugal was being invaded by the French, Beresford commanded a British force that occupied Madeira for fear that the French might use it as a naval base. While there, Beresford was attracted to Lusitanian culture and learned to speak Portuguese which he improved when he came to Portugal itself with the rank of major-general in the latter part of 1808, and was with Sir John Moore during the retreat to Corunna. Recognised for his special talents in organisation and administration, he was appointed marshal of the Portuguese army on 7 March 1809 and relentlessly went to work reorganising it into one of the most efficient forces of the Napoleonic wars. From January to June 1811, Beresford replaced an ailing Rowland Hill at the command of the Anglo-Portuguese troops east of the Tagus River which led him into western Spain. On 16 May 1811, he won the hard-fought battle of Albuera against Marshal Soult, but Beresford was not an outstanding tactician and it was a close call. He went on to serve with Wellington in Spain and southern France.
The most notable Portuguese general during the campaign was Major-General Francisco de Silveira who managed to keep the pressure on Masséna’s lines of communications in northern Portugal, cutting them almost totally between mid-September and mid-November 1810 thanks to his blockade of Almeida. He knew his forces, consisting mainly of militia and Ordenanza levies from northeastern Portugal, could not hope to stand against the French army. Once Drouet’s 9th Corps arrived as reinforcements for Masséna, his purpose was to tie down as much of it as possible, defending the lines of communication, and in this he was most successful. He was made Count of Amarante in 1812 by Prince Regent Joao VI for his services. Lieutenant-General Manuel Pinto Bacelar commanded the forces, again mostly levies, in the northwest and was concerned with the safety of Porto. He was ably assisted by Nicholas Trant and John Wilson, two outstanding British officers commanding Portuguese militia brigades south of the Douro River who also wrought havoc on French communications.
Marshal William Carr Beresford (1768–1854), commander-in-chief of the Portuguese army from 1809 to 1820.
Major-General Francisco de Silveira (1763–1821) kept the pressure on the French in the northeast with his levies of Portuguese militia and Ordenanza. (Museu Militar do Bussaco)
Monument to Don Julian Sanchez and his guerrillas in Ciudad Rodrigo. (Photo: RC)
This last phase of the campaign in Portugal saw the involvement of some sizeable Spanish forces. José Caro Marquis de La Romana led the Spanish corps that joined Wellington at the Lines of Torres Vedras in October 1810. La Romana, who had participated in countless engagements with the French since 1808, always managed to preserve the core of his force in spite of all sorts of hardships. He was not a gifted tactician, but he was nevertheless one of the outstanding generals of the Peninsular War with a cautious and measured character and, contrary to most of his fellow Spanish generals, adopted a spirit of co-operation with Wellington’s Anglo-Portuguese army. His sudden death in January 1811 was, as Oman put it, a ‘real disaster to the cause of the allies’. A very different type of Spanish leader was the Spanish guerrilla leader Don Julian Sanchez. A man of humble circumstances, he waged a ‘war to the death’ on the French, with personal vengeance high on his agenda as a result of cruelties committed by French troops on his family. From 1811, Sanchez was in regular communication with Wellington, to whom he sent most valuable intelligence. His role in the battle of Fuentes de Oñoro was negligible as this was a contest between regular armies, but his ability to harass the French and to provide outstanding information on the enemy made him valuable to Wellington. Their collaboration continued into Spain and the two were even seen by Sergeant Costello of the 95th Rifles walking together ‘linked in arm’ in November 1812.
3 Quoted in Michael Barthorp, Wellington’s Generals (Osprey MAA 84) p.3. Colonel Torrens, the military secretary to the commander-in-chief at the Horse Guards in London, replied with regard to Erskine that ‘No doubt he is sometimes a little mad, but in his lucid intervals he is an uncommonly clever fellow’.