Battle of the Côa The Battle of the River Côa ( July 24 , 1810 ) was a relatively minor battle that occurred during the Peninsular War period of the Napoleonic Wars . It took place in the valley of the Côa River and it was the first significant battle for the new army of 65 , 000 men controlled by Marshal André Masséna , as the French prepared for their third invasion of Portugal . As the British - Portuguese forces were outnumbered here , on July 22 , General Arthur Wellesley , 1st Duke of Wellington sent Brigadier - General Robert Craufurd a letter , saying that he ( Wellington ) was " not desirous of engaging in an affair beyond the Coa . " On July 24 , Craufurd ' s Light Division , with 4 , 200 infantry , 800 cavalry , and six guns , was surprised by the sight of 20 , 000 troops under Marshal Michel Ney . Rather than retreat and cross the river as ordered by Wellington , Craufurd chose to engage the French , narrowly avoiding disaster . The French objective was to force the Light Division back across the Côa in order to besiege Almeida . They succeeded after hard fighting , but then launched a costly assault across the Côa , suffering heavy casualties . Battle of the River Côa . Order of Battle . British - Portuguese forces engaged were : The engaged units of Ney ' s VI Corps included : French Offensive . Craufurd committed a serious tactical error by choosing to fight with an unfordable river at his back while badly outnumbered . As such , in the early hours of 24 July , after a night of torrential rain , Ney sent forth Ferey and Loison ' s divisions to engage the allies . A company of the 95th Rifles came under fire from French artillery as they moved in to attack . French voltiguers of the 32nd then came up and took the fight to the bayonet , and the British broke and fled . The guns of Almeida opened fire on the 95th Rifles , mistaking them for French because of their dark uniforms . They then fell under attack by the French 3rd Hussars , supported by two companies of dragoons . British troops of the 43rd came to assist them . Though fierce fighting broke out , the French advance was halted . Despite orders from Wellington to fall back across the river Côa , Craufurd decided to hold his ground as more French arrived and began to deploy in formation . The 15th " Chasseurs a Cheval " then charged to the south to outflank the British 52nd division , while Ferey ' s French brigade attacked the British positioned near a windmill positioned at the British right , advancing through rough - terrain while Almeida ' s guns were firing upon them . The French infantry charged the British with fixed bayonet and , under mounting pressure , the allies began to fall back , isolating themselves from the 43rd division under attack by the 15th " Chasseurs " . The 3rd Hussars came into the fight and Craufurd ' s men took heavy casualties . All this time , while Ney ' s assaults were being slowed by awful terrain , Almeida was slowly being isolated from the allied force . Craufurd , realising his situation that the French were threatening his only escape ( the bridge crossing the river Côa ) , ordered a withdrawal across the river Côa , with the British 52nd and 43rd foot as well as the 95th rifles protecting their retreat . For the British , matters only became worse . A supply wagon turned over and caused a traffic jam in the retreat across the bridge . The French were gradually driving back the British divisions protecting the withdrawal . Craufurd then ordered these troops to fall back and take position the heights overlooking the bridge and hold that position until the retreat had been made . The French took the heights but in a move that took the Ney ' s forces completely by surprise the allies made an assault and held their opponents at bay long enough for the main body of the British - Portuguese to make it across to the other side of the river Côa . Assault across the Côa . With the French driving the Light Division back , Ney then attempted attacking across the Côa . In the first attempt , grenadiers of the 66th surged towards the bridge under a hail of musketry and cannon fire , failing to get more than halfway across the bridge . The second more strongly - pressed offensive was made by the Elite " Chasseurs de la Siège " light infantry . Oman writes that they had " flung themselves at the bridge , and pushed on till it was absolutely blocked by the bodies of the killed and the wounded , and till they themselves had been almost literally exterminated , for out of a battalion of little more than 300 men 90 were killed and 147 wounded in less than ten minutes . " The final attack was once more led by the 66th which was beaten off with little difficulty . Aftermath . The battle ended with the French having , despite the setback at the bridge , driven the Light Division from the field . Having been beaten back and only narrowly escaped a total rout , Crauford ' s forces withdrew at midnight , leaving Masséna free rein to lay siege to Almeida . Napier and Oman stated that the British Light Division held off the entire 20 000 troops under Ney . However , it was only Ferey and Loison ' s division that actually engaged the Light Division . French forces engaged were around 6 , 000 pitched against 4 , 000 British - Portuguese . Casualties are hard to determine . Both the French and the British - Portuguese were biased . Imperial propaganda reported allied casualties to be at 1 , 200 , while many British sources claimed the loss of 36 killed and 189 wounded as well as 83 missing . On the other hand , French casualties are easier to determine , as both the allies and French estimated around five hundred dead or wounded . The great majority of these casualties were due to Ney ' s futile attack across the bridge .