Battle of the Black Mountain The Battle of the Black Mountain ( also Capmany or Sierra Negra or Del Roure or Montroig ) was fought from 17 to 20 November 1794 between the army of the First French Republic and the allied armies of the Kingdom of Spain and the Kingdom of Portugal . The French , led by Jacques François Dugommier defeated the Allies , who were commanded by Luis Firmín de Carvajal , Conde de la Unión . A Spanish artillery shell killed Dugommier early in the battle and Dominique Pérignon assumed command of the French army . De la Union was slain on the last day of the fighting . The French victory led to the capture of Figueres and the investment of the port of Roses ( Rosas ) . Background . During 1793 , the Spanish army won victories at the Siege of Bellegarde and the Battle of Truillas . These battles and other actions resulted in Spanish forces overrunning part of Rousillon , where France borders Spain on the Mediterranean Sea . On 16 January 1794 , General of Division ( MG ) Dugommier took command of the Army of the eastern Pyrenees . The victor of Toulon immediately reorganized the army , putting it into a state where it would be capable of taking the offensive . The new general began stockpiling supplies , establishing arms factories , setting up hospitals , and improving roads . By April , the field army counted 28 , 000 soldiers . These were backed up by 20 , 000 garrison troops and 9 , 000 raw volunteers . Forming his army into the infantry divisions of MG Pérignon , MG Pierre Sauret , and MG Pierre Augereau , plus a cavalry reserve under MG André de La Barre , Dugommier launched his offensive in late April 1794 . The French victory in the Battle of Boulou on 1 May caused the Spanish army to withdraw south of the Pyrenees . The recapture of Collioure occurred on 29 May . Pérignon won a combat at La Junquera on 7 June , in which La Barre was killed . Augereau repulsed a Spanish attack on 13 August at the Battle of San - Lorenzo de la Muga . A long siege of Fort de Bellegarde ended on 17 September with a Spanish capitulation . Battle . Plans . To shield Figueres , Roses , and the Alt Emporda , Lieutenant General de la Union constructed a chain of 90 redoubts . The defenders included crack troops such as the three battalions each of the Spanish Guard and Walloon Guard Regiments . Lower quality troops such as provincial militia also manned the lines . De la Union was assisted by an allied Portuguese division under Lieutenant General João Forbes , which included one battalion each of the 1st , 2nd , " Olivença " , " Cascais " , " Peniche " , and " Freire de Andrade " Infantry Regiments . Dugommier deployed a total 36 , 000 troops for his assault , including 22 , 000 in the first line . Augereau ' s division on the western flank had 9 , 000 men . Pérignon ' s 8 , 700 soldiers held the center and Sauret ' s 4 , 300 troops were on the east flank . The second line had 7 , 500 men and the third line contained 4 , 500 troops . A further 8 , 000 soldiers lay in reserve . De la Union deployed 45 , 000 to defend his fortified lines , including 10 , 000 second line reserves . Lieutenant General Juan de Courten had 10 , 000 troops to hold Sant Llorenç de la Muga , Magdalena Mountain , and Terrades on the western flank . Lieutenant General Juan Miguel de Vives y Feliu defended the eastern flank from Pont de Molins to the sea with 12 , 000 men . Lieutenant General Jerónimo Girón - Moctezuma , Marquis de las Amarilas held the centre with 23 , 000 soldiers . Initial attack . Dugommier sent his divisions forward on the night of 16 November 1794 . Augereau advanced on the right flank while Pérignon moved forward in the center , supported by General of Brigade ( BG ) Charles Dugua ' s cavalry reserve . Sauret and BG Claude Victor mounted feint attacks on the left flank . Augereau ' s attack on the cannon foundry in Sant Llorenç de la Muga and Terrades proved successful , forcing de Courten to pull back his Spanish and French Émigré troops toward Llers . Attacks by Pérignon in the center and Sauret on the left failed in the face of intense Spanish artillery fire from the area of Capmany . A force of Spanish cavalry and infantry under the French royalist Count of Ghent broke through Sauret ' s line to Cantallops but were driven back with the help of French reinforcements coming from the Pass of Banyuls in the east . On the morning of 18 November , Dugommier , Representative - on - mission Pierre Delbrel , and staff officers watched the combat from the summit of Montroig . The presence of a battery of French guns and the party of French officers drew considerable counter - battery fire from Spanish cannons . About 7 : 30 AM , an artillery shell exploded nearby and a fragment tore the commanding general ' s arm off , killing him . Final attack . Pérignon took over and called off the attack . On 18 and 19 November , the French council of war met at the La Junquera headquarters . After reorganizing his army , Pérignon determined to attack from the northwest along the valley running from Montroig to Biure . The attack began at dawn on the 20th and broke through the Spanish first and second lines . French troops soon began assaulting the 25 - gun redoubt at the Santa - Maria - del - Roure monastery , two km northwest of Pont de Molins . BG Louis Bon ' s soldiers approached down the Muga valley from the direction of Escaules . Generals Gaspard Cagival and Diego Godoy ( brother of Manuel Godoy ) directed intense fire from the defenders that broke the French into small groups . Nevertheless , after being joined by BG François Guillot ' s brigade , they persisted in the attack for three hours . The fight turned against the Spanish and the position finally fell around 3 : 00 PM to an encircling maneuver . During the early fighting on the 20th , de la Union remained at his headquarters in the San Fernando ( Sant Ferran ) fortress at Figueres . As he rode to the front , he received a report that the Santa - Maria - del - Roure redoubt had fallen . Upon reaching Pont de Molins , he led a counterattack by 1 , 300 cavalry against the brigades of BG Théodore Chabert and BG Jean - Antoine Verdier . During the subsequent melee , de la Union was fatally hit by two bullets and fell about 300 metres from Santa - Maria - del - Roure . De Courten and General Domingo Izquierdo withdrew the left wing south to Bàscara , behind the Rio Fluvià , pursued by Verdier . An isolated force of 2 , 000 troops retreated from Llers to Figueres , where it joined Brigadier General José Andrés Lopéz Valdes ' 7 , 000 - man garrison of San Fernando . Numbers of wounded and stragglers from the battle also took refuge in the fortress . Marquis de las Amarilas took command of the badly shaken Army of Catalonia and marched toward Girona , leaving a rear guard to cover the retreat . Results . During the battle , the French lost 3 , 000 casualties out of 35 , 000 engaged . Spanish and Portuguese losses numbered 10 , 000 killed , wounded , and missing out of a total of 50 , 000 men . The French captured 30 artillery pieces . The French army quickly seized Figueres , but at first the fortress of San Fernando , which was 1 . 3 km northeast of the city , defied them . On 27 November , Pérignon bluffed Valdes into surrendering the powerful fortress . The entire garrison of 9 , 000 soldiers and 171 artillery pieces fell into French hands . In December , de las Amarilas was dismissed for disgracefully abandoning San Fernando , and for blunders at the battles of Boulou and Peyrestortes . LG José Urrutia y de las Cases took command of the Allied field army , which lay behind the Fluvià . The next action in the eastern Pyrenees was the Siege of Roses , which lasted until 4 February 1795 .