Battle of Valencia ( 1808 ) The First Battle of Valencia was an attack on the Spanish city of Valencia on 26 June 1808 , early in the Peninsular War . Marshal Moncey ' s French Imperial troops failed to take the city by storm and retreated upon Madrid , leaving much of eastern Spain unconquered and beyond the reach of Napoleon . Rebellion . By the summer of 1808 large parts of Spain had rebelled against the French invaders , but Napoleon believed that he was facing a series of minor insurrections . Accordingly he ordered a number of small columns to be sent out from Madrid to deal with the rebels . Marshal Moncey was given a column of 9 , 000 men to restore order in Valencia . Moncey had a choice of routes . The longer slow route led via Almansa , while the shorter quicker route cut across mountains . Moncey shared Napoleon ’ s belief that he was facing a local insurrection , and chose to take the quicker mountain route . The French were actually faced by a much wider revolt against their occupation of Spain . The Valencian Junta had a force of 7 , 000 regular troops and a much larger number of levies and volunteers with which to oppose the French . Fortunately for Moncey , the commander of the Spanish force , the Conde de Cervellon , expected Moncey to take the easier route , and so left the mountain passes almost undefended . Moncey was able to sweep aside small Spanish forces at the River Cabriel ( 21 June ) and the Cabrillas defile ( 24 June ) , arrived outside Valencia on 24 June . The Arrival at Valencia . The city was not entirely undefended . Three battalions of regular troops , supported by 7 , 000 Valencian levies , all under the command of Don José Caro , a naval officer , were defending a position at San Onofre , four miles outside the city . Moncey was forced to spend most of 27 June fighting this force , eventually forcing it to retreat back into the city . Valencia was not defended by modern fortifications . Instead , the city was surrounded by a wet moat and its medieval walls . However , the surrounding area was very flat , and the Spanish were able to flood it , forcing Moncey to concentrate his attack on a limited number of gates on the southern side of the city . The defenders outnumbered the French . There were around 20 , 000 armed men in Valencia , of whom around 1 , 500 were regulars and 6 , 500 levies with at least a little training . They also had a number of artillery guns , which were well placed to protect the gates . The gates were also protected by barricades built up over the previous few days . Moncey was not expecting the Spanish to put up a serious fight at Valencia . On 28 June he ordered two brigades to attack the city , one against the gate of San José and one against the gate of Quarte . Both attacks failed , although the French did reach the front of the barricades . Moncey then attempted to use his field artillery to bombard the Spanish defences , but his guns were soon silenced by the Spanish guns within the city . Moncey then ordered a second assault , this time against three gates ( San José , Quarte and Santa Lucia ) . This attack was also beaten off , with higher casualties than the first . Moncey simply did not have enough men to capture Valencia when faced with such determined resistance . The French had not expected to be assaulting a defended city , so Moncey ’ s column contained no siege guns . Moncey ' s Failure . After the failure of this second assault , Moncey realised that the situation was hopeless . He was also aware that the Spanish army that he had bypassed by crossing the mountains would be approaching . He decided to abandon the expedition to Valencia , and move back towards Madrid . This time he decided to take the Almanza road . There was always the chance that this would produce an open battle , which the French were confident they would win . In the event the Spanish moved to defend the mountain passes , believed that the French would return by their original road , and the two armies missed each other again . The Outcome . Estimates of the French losses at Valencia vary wildly , from as low as 300 up to 2 , 000 . They were probably nearer 1 , 100 , with 800 wounded and 300 dead . Moncey ’ s failure in front of Valencia was the first indication that the Spanish would prove to be very determined defenders of fortified positions . It was soon overshadowed by the disastrous French defeat at Baylen on 19 July , which saw a French army under General Dupont defeated in open battle , but it played just as important a role in ending any chance of a quick French victory in Spain .