CHAPTER VI. BOOK 1808. Cabanes, 1st Part. Notes, No. 2. Cabanes, OPERATIONS IN CATALONIA. WHEN Barcelona fell into the power of the French, the Spanish garrison amounted to nearly four thousand men; but Duhesme daily fearing a riot in the city, connived at their escape in parties, and even sent the regiment of Estremadura (which was eight hundred strong) entire to Lerida, where, strange to relate, the gates were shut against it; and thus, discarded by both parties, it made its way into Zaragoza during the siege of that place. Many thousand citizens also fled from Barcelona, and joined the patriotic standards in the neighbouring provinces. After the first ebullition at Manresa, the insurNapoleon's rection of Catalonia lingered awhile; but the junta Appendix, of Gerona continued to excite the people to take arms, and it was manifest that a general commotion approached; and this was a serious affair, for there were in the beginning of June, including those who came out of Barcelona, five thousand veteran troops in the province, and in the Balearic islands above ten thousand. Sicily contained an English army, and English fleets covered the Mediterranean. Moreover, by the constitution of Catalonia, the whole of the male population fit for war are obliged to assemble at certain points of each district with arms and provisions, whenever the alarum bell, called the somaten, is heard to ring; hence the name of somatenes; and these warlike peasants, either from tradition or 1st Part. VI. experience, are well acquainted with the military CHAP. value of their mountain holds. 1808. Victoire et Hostilities soon commenced; Duhesme, following his instructions from Bayonne, detached general Chabran and five thousand two hundred men, with orders to secure Tarragona and Tortosa, to incorporate the Swiss regiment of Wimpfen with his own troops, and to aid marshal Moncey in an attack on Valencia. At the same time general Swartz having more than three thousand men, Swiss, Germans, and Italians, under his St. Cyr. command, was detached by the way of Martorel and Conquestes Montserrat to Manresa, with orders to raise contri- des Franbutions, to put down the insurrection, and to destroy Foy. the powder mills at the last town; then to get possession of Lerida, and to incorporate all the Swiss troops found there in his own brigade, placing five hundred men in the citadel; after which he was to penetrate into Aragon, and to co-operate with Lefebre against Zaragoza. cois. Cabanes. These two columns quitted Barcelona the 3d and the 4th of June. A heavy rain induced Swartz to stop all the 5th at Martorel: the 6th he resumed his march, but without any military precautions, although the object of his expedition was known, and the somaten Ibid. ringing out among the hills, the peasants of eight districts were assembled in arms; these men took a resolution to defend the pass of Bruch, and the most active of the Manresa and Igualada districts, assisted by a few old soldiers, immediately repaired there, and posted themselves on the rocks. Swartz coming on in a careless manner, a heavy but distant fire opened from all parts on his column, and created a little confusion, but order was soon restored, and the Catalans being beaten from their strong holds, were pursued I. 1808. BOOK for four or five miles along the main road. At Casa Mansana, where a cross road leads to Manresa, one part broke away, the others continued their flight to Igualada. Swartz, a man evidently destitute of talent, halted at the very moment when his success was complete, and the road to Manresa open; the Catalans seeing his hesitation first rallied in the rear of Casa Mansana, then returned to the attack, and drove the advanced guard back upon the main body. The French general became alarmed, formed a square, and retired hastily towards Esparraguéra, followed and flanked by clouds of somatenes, whose courage and numbers increased every moment; at Esparraguéra, which was a long single street, the inhabitants had prepared an ambush; but Swartz, who arrived at twilight, getting intelligence of their design, passed to the right and left of the houses, and continuing his flight reached Martorel the 7th, having lost a gun and many men by this inglorious expedition, from which he returned in such disorder, and with his soldiers so discouraged, that Duhesme thought it necessary to recall Chabran from Tarragona. The country westward of the Llobregat is rugged and difficult for an army, yet Chabran reached Tarragona on the 8th without encountering an enemy; but when he attempted to return, the line of his march was intercepted by the insurgents, who took post at Vendrill, Arbos, and Villa Franca, and spread themselves along the banks of the Llobregat. As he approached Vendrill the somatenes fell back to Arbos, but a skirmish commencing at this latter place, the Catalans were defeated. Chabran set fire to the town, and proceeded to Villa Franca. Here the excesses so common at this time among the Spaniards were not VI. spared; the governor, an old man, and several of his CHAP. friends, were murdered, and the perpetrators of these crimes, as might be expected, made little or no defence against the enemy. Meanwhile general Lechi moved out of Barcelona, and acting in concert with Swartz's brigade, which marched from Martorel, cleared the banks of the Llobregat, and formed a junction at San Felice with Chabran on the 11th. The latter, after a day's rest, having his division completed by the brigade of Swartz, marched against Manresa to repair the former disgrace; he arrived at Bruch the 14th, but the somatenes were also there, and assisted by some regular troops with artillery. Finding that in a partial skirmish he made no impression, Chabran, more timid even than Swartz, took the extraordinary resolution of retreating, or rather flying from those gallant peasants, who pursued him with scoffs and a galling fire back to the very walls of Barcelona. This success spurred on the insurrection; Gerona, Rosas, Hostalrich, and Tarragona prepared for defence. The somatenes assembling in the Ampurdan obliged the French commandant to quit the town of Figueras, and shut himself up with three hundred men in the citadel, while others gathering between the Ter and the Besos, intercepted all communication between France and Barcelona. In this predicament Duhesme resolved to make a sudden attempt on Gerona, and for this purpose drew out six thousand of his best troops, and eight pieces of artillery; but as the fortress of Hostalrich stood in the direct road, he followed the coast line, and employed a French privateer, then in the harbour, to attend his march. The somatenes got intelligence of his designs: one multitude took possession of the 1808. I. 1808. BOOK heights of Moncada, which are six miles from Barcelona, and overhang the road to Hostalrich; another multitude was posted on the ridge of Mongat, which, at the same distance from Barcelona, abuts on the sea; an intrenched castle, with a battery of fifteen guns, protected their left, and their right was slightly connected with the people at Moncada. The 17th, Duhesme, after some false show to hide his real attack, fell upon the castle of Mongat, where the greater mass of the Catalans being posted, were defeated with slaughter; a detachment from Barcelona dispersing those of Moncada at the same time. The 18th, the town of Mattaro being taken was plundered, although a few cannon-shot only had been fired in its defence. The somatenes were also dedefeated at the pass of San Pol. The 19th, the French halted at San Tione, but at nine o'clock on the morning of the 20th, they appeared before the walls of Gerona. This town, built on the right bank of the Ter, is cut in two by the Oña. To the eastward it is confined by strong rocky hills, whose points filling the space between the right bank of the Oña and the Ter, overlook the town at different distances. Fort Mont Jouy, a regular fortification, crowned the nearest hill or table land, at five hundred yards distance, and three forts (that of the Constable, of queen Anne, and of the Capuchins), being connected by a ditch and rampart, formed one irregular outwork, a thousand yards in length, and commanding all the ridge to the southeast. The summit of this ridge is five, eight, and twelve hundred yards from Gerona, and sixteen hundred from Fort Mont Jouy, being separated from the latter by the narrow valley and stream of the Gallegan. South-west, between the left of the Oña and |