page_title: Siege of Figueras (1811)
section_title: Relief attempt
hierarchical_section_title: Siege of Figueras (1811) / Relief attempt
caption_attribution_description: English: Light Infantry: Voltigeur and Carabinier from the Grande Armée. From book of P.-M. Laurent de L`Ardeche «Histoire de Napoleon», 1843
context_page_description: The Siege of Figueras, which lasted from 10 April to 19 August 1811, saw the Spanish garrison of Sant Ferran Castle led by Brigadier General Juan Antonio Martínez defend against an Imperial French force commanded by Marshal Jacques MacDonald and his deputy Louis Baraguey d'Hilliers. Martínez and his men held out much longer than expected but were eventually starved into surrendering the fortress, which was near Figueres. The action occurred during the Peninsular War, part of the Napoleonic Wars.
  On the night of 9 and 10 April 1811, a Spanish guerrilla force led by the priest Francesc Rovira i Sala seized the Sant Ferran Castle from its Italian garrison in a well-executed coup de main. Within a few days, the fortress was manned by 3,000 Catalan miquelets and 1,500 Spanish regulars and placed under the command of Martínez. A furious Emperor Napoleon demanded that the strategic fort be retaken and 15,000 Imperial troops were amassed for the purpose. MacDonald pleaded with Louis Gabriel Suchet for reinforcements, but that general refused to send a single soldier and went ahead with his intended Siege of Tarragona.
context_section_description: With 1,300 soldiers Peyri returned to Figueres and fortified the town. However, his force was too weak to interfere with Rovira as he brought more miquelets into Sant Ferran. Rovira appointed Brigadier General Juan Antonio Martínez to command the fortress which was manned by 3,000 miquelets within a week of its capture. Before he could bring help to Peyri, d'Hilliers had to call in several small garrisons. He also worried about a Royal Navy threat to the port of Roses. After a week passed, d'Hilliers raked up 2,000 reinforcements and brought them to Figueres. Meanwhile, General of Division François Jean Baptiste Quesnel arrived from France with three regular battalions and the National Guard battalions of Haute-Garonne and Gers. With 6,500 infantry and 500 cavalry available, d'Hilliers imposed a blockade on Sant Ferran on 17 April. 
  Meanwhile, General Joaquín Ibáñez Cuevas y de Valonga, Baron de Eroles marched a portion of his division from Martorell to Figueres. Along the way he wiped out French garrisons at Olot and Castellfollit de la Roca, capturing 548 prisoners. Eroles brought his Spanish regulars into Sant Ferran on the 16th. At the same time, the guerillas became very active throughout Catalonia and caused d'Hilliers a lot of worry. Soon General of Brigade Louis Auguste Marchand Plauzonne's division was on the march from Languedoc and Provence. It began arriving at the end of April and would eventually include several French infantry regiments. Before all these troops massed at Figueres, the French position in northern Catalonia was very vulnerable. It was on 16 April that MacDonald appealed to Suchet for help. 
  Campoverde was slow to take advantage of his opportunity to cause mischief. He learned of Rovira's coup on 12 April, but did not put his army in motion until the 20th. On that day it issued from Tarragona with 6,000 foot soldiers and 800 cavalry belonging to General Pedro Sarsfield's division and part of Eroles' division. His force did not reach Vic until 27 April and only approached Figueres at the beginning of May. With those miquelets that remained outside the fortress, Rovira maneuvered to join Campoverde's Spanish regulars. In addition to the garrison of Sant Ferran, Campoverde's 6,800 men, Rovira's 2,000 miquelets, and Eroles' 2,000 soldiers were available to break the French blockade. Historian Digby Smith credited the French with 20,000 men, but Oman stated that the French were outnumbered in the coming fight. 
  D'Hilliers blockaded Sant Ferran with two divisions. Quesnel's division counted two battalions of the 23rd Light Infantry Regiment, three battalions of the 79th Line, one battalion of the 93rd Line, and the 29th Chasseurs à Cheval Regiment. Plauzonne led four battalions each of the 3rd Light and 67th Line, three battalions of the 11th Line, and one battalion of the 16th Light. Sarsfield's division included elements of the Cazadores de Valencia, Girona, Grenadiers, Hibernia, Santa Fé, 1st Savoia, 2nd Savoia, and Zaragoza Infantry Regiments. 
  On 3 May 1811, assisted by a diversion by Rovira's guerillas on the north side, Sarsfield's division pierced the French lines on the south side near Figueres. Eroles' troops issued from the fortress and together with Sarsfield they attacked Figueres which was held by the 3rd Light Infantry Regiment. After a prolonged struggle, the French agreed to parley with the Spanish, but stalled for time while negotiating the terms of surrender. At this time, a number of Spanish gunners and a supply convoy began to enter the fortress. Meanwhile, d'Hilliers gathered the bulk of his troops into a massed formation. Approaching through an area screened by olive trees, the French burst upon Sarsfield from the rear and threw his command into confusion. A cavalry charge dispersed two of Sarsfield's regiments and he was forced to retreat. Eroles withdrew inside Sant Ferran. Campoverde did not intervene in the fight with his reserves. Though the gunners got into the fortress and were able to man many of its cannons, most of the convoy was captured by the French, including a 
caption: Two French light infantrymen: carabinier on the right and voltigeur on the left
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