Memoirs of the War in Spain, from 1808 to 1814, Volume 1

by Louis-Gabriel Suchet

Excerpt from book: CHAPTER XIII. Restoration of order in Tarragona. — General Suchet proceeds in the direction of Barcelona. — He returns to Tarragona.— Dispersion of Campoverde's army. — The commamler-in- chief advances against Vich. — He is appointed to the rank of marshal of France. — The army advances against Mont- Serrat. — Description of that position. — Attack and capture of Mont-Serrat. — Occupation of the whole of lower Catalonia. — Return of marshal Suchet to Saragossa, — Partial engagements. — Proposal for an exchange of prisoners. the 29th of June, at sun-rise, a very different scene met the eye at Tarragona, in the camps, and along the sea-shore. The fleet had stood out to sea, after having picked up some fugitive Spaniards; nor was it any longer in its power to afford shelter to the rest of the garrison, or to save it from the fate of war. The city, which was blocked up with the wounded and slain, still offered a gloomy spectacle, but it had ceased to be a theatre for the display of unrestrained political fury. It became necessary to take such immediate measures as were most conducive to the public health and tranquillity. General Montmarie, who was entrusted with the temporary command, had issued orders for collecting the wounded and transporting them to the hospitals of Reuss ; he also brought together the inhabitants, who were scattered in every direction, and employed them as pioneers in breaking up and removing our trenches and batteries, taking care at the same time that they should be furnished before-hand with rations of provisions from the magazines belonging to the army. No more troops were kept within the city than were indispensable for the maintenance of public tranquillity; the remainder were directed to join their respective colours. The regiments took up arms, and...

402 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1829

About the author

Louis-Gabriel Suchet was a Marshal of France and one of Napoleon's most brilliant generals.

He was the son of a silk manufacturer at Lyon, where he was born, originally intended to follow his father's business; but having in 1792 served as volunteer in the cavalry of the national guard at Lyon, he manifested military abilities which secured his rapid promotion. As chef de bataillon he was present at the Siege of Toulon in 1793, where he took General O'Hara prisoner.

During the Italian campaign of 1796 he was severely wounded at the battle of Cerea on 11 October. In October 1797 he was appointed to the command of a demi-brigade, and his services, under Joubert in the Tirol in that year, and in Switzerland under Brune in 1797-98, were recognized by his promotion to the rank of Général de Brigade.

He took no part in the Egyptian campaign, but in August was made chief of the staff to General Brune, and restored the efficiency and discipline of the army in Italy. In July 1799 he was promoted to général de division and chief of staff to Joubert in Italy. In 1800 he was named by Masséna to be his second in command. His dexterous resistance to the superior forces of the Austrians with the left wing of Masséna's army, when the right and centre were shut up in Genoa, not only prevented the invasion of France from this direction but contributed to the success of Napoleon's crossing the Alps, which culminated in the battle of Marengo on 14 June. He took a prominent part in the Italian campaign until the armistice of Treviso.


In the campaigns of 1805 and 1806 he greatly enhanced his reputation at the Battles of Austerlitz, Saalfeld, Jena, Pułtusk and Ostrolenka, where he commanded an infantry division. He obtained the title of count on 19 March 1808, married on 16 November of the same year Mlle. Honorine Anthoine de Saint-Joseph (Marseille, 26 February 1790 – Paris, 13 April 1884), a niece of Julie Clary, the wife of Joseph Bonaparte, by whom he had issue, and soon afterwards was ordered to Spain. Here, after taking part in the Siege of Saragossa, he was named commander of the army of Aragon and governor of that region, which he by wise, unlike that of most of the French generals, and adroit administration no less than by his brilliant valour, in two years brought into complete submission. Beaten by the Spanish at the Battle of Alcañiz, he sprung back and soundly defeated the army of Joaquín Blake y Joyes at the Battle of María on 14 June 1809, and on 22 April 1810 defeated Henry Joseph O'Donnell, Count of La Bisbal at Lleida.

He was made Marshal of France (8 July 1811) after the siege of Tarragona. In 1812 he captured Valencia, for which he was rewarded with the ducal victory title (honorary, not attached to an actual fief) of duc d'Albufera da Valencia in 1813. When the tide turned against France, Suchet defended his conquests one by one until compelled to withdraw from Spain, after which he took part in Soult's defensive campaign of 1814.

The restored Bourbon king Louis XVIII made him a peer of France on 4 June, with a seat in the upper house, but, having commanded one of Napoleon's armies on the Alpine frontier during the Hundred Days, he was deprived of his peerage on 24 July 1815. He died in the Castle of Saint-Joseph near Marseille on 3 January 1826, leaving a wife and 3 children.

Reviews

[Betsy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Marshal Suchet was one of the few successful generals for the French during the Peninsular War. This is the first volume of his memoirs which describes his campaigns in eastern Spain as commander of Third Corps. His triumph in several sieges, and in gaining the cooperation of at least some of his Spanish opponents earned him a marshal's baton eventually. This book ends with a chapter praising the successes that he had enjoyed up through 1810, however, that is not the end of the story as French fortunes begin to deteriorate in the second volume.