Siege of Figueras ( 1811 ) The Siege of Figueras , which lasted from 10 April to 19 August 1811 , saw the Spanish garrison of Sant Ferran Castle ( San Fernando Fortress ) 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 guerilla 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 . When Suchet invested Tarragona , Luis González Torres de Navarra , Marquess of Campoverde leading the Army of Catalonia immediately withdrew the divisions of Pedro Sarsfield and Joaquín Ibáñez Cuevas y de Valonga , Baron de Eroles from the vicinity of Figueres and moved to defend Tarragona . MacDonald made no attempt to breach Sant Ferran ' s walls by cannon fire ; rather he waited for hunger to compel a surrender . With his food nearly gone , Martínez launched a breakout attempt but it failed to pierce the siege lines . By the time the garrison capitulated , 4 , 000 of the besiegers had died , mostly from malaria , dysentery , and other diseases . Of the defenders , 1 , 500 died from enemy action and hunger , 2 , 000 marched into captivity , and 1 , 000 were too badly wounded or sick in the fortress hospital to leave . Though the Spanish lost Sant Ferran in the end and failed to stop Suchet from capturing Tarragona , they tied up the entire VII Corps for the summer of 1811 . Background . On 2 January 1811 , General of Division Louis Gabriel Suchet successfully wrapped up the Siege of Tortosa when its 3 , 974 - man Spanish garrison capitulated . Afterward , Suchet left General of Brigade Pierre - Joseph Habert and a French garrison in Tortosa and marched his prisoners back to Zaragosa under escort . Freed from his responsibility to cover the siege , Marshal Jacques MacDonald moved his force toward Valls where he bumped into the enemy . In the Battle of Pla on 15 January , MacDonald ' s vanguard received a drubbing from General Pedro Sarsfield ' s division and General of Brigade Francesco Orsatelli Eugenio was mortally wounded . Rather than avenge this setback , MacDonald elected to force - march his 12 , 000 - man corps to Montblanc on the night of the 16th . From there he moved to Lleida ( Lérida ) . Annoyed with MacDonald ' s lackluster performance , Emperor Napoleon confined his sphere of operations to northern Catalonia and assigned the territories southwest of Barcelona to Suchet . In addition , Napoleon insisted that MacDonald hand over 17 , 000 troops to his colleague . The emperor ordered Suchet to capture Tarragona and promised him a promotion to marshal if successful . Accordingly , Suchet completed the reorganization of his army and moved toward Tarragona in April 1811 . But on 21 April , Suchet received the shocking news that the fortress of Figueres had been seized by the Catalan partisans . Both MacDonald and the governor of Barcelona , General of Division Maurice Mathieu begged Suchet to send help but were turned down . Suchet calculated that by the time he sent one or two divisions to help , a month would have passed . He predicted that Napoleon could more quickly send reinforcements from France to Figueres , only from the border . Later , when the emperor heard of Suchet ' s action , he heartily approved of it . In 1811 , the Sant Ferran fortress was about 60 years old . The powerful citadel was designed and constructed in the reign of King Ferdinand VI of Spain and named San Fernando ( Sant Ferran ) . In the form of a circular bastioned enceinte , the fortress stood on a hill overlooking Figueres and the highway from Barcelona to Perpignan , France . To reach the front gate , an attacker had to march up a steep slope on a road with several switchbacks . Sant Ferran fortress capitulated to the French Republican army of General of Division Dominique Catherine de Pérignon on 28 November 1794 . This event occurred eight days after the Spanish defeat in the Battle of the Black Mountain during the War of the Pyrenees . On 18 March 1808 , 200 Imperial French soldiers asked to be admitted within the precincts of the fortress and were allowed in , since the French were believed to be allies . Once inside , they seized the main gate and opened it to an entire regiment . The stunned Spanish garrison was quickly expelled . Since its capture , the French had used Sant Ferran as a major supply base for the sieges of Roses in 1808 and Gerona in 1809 . But after three years , the French generals grew complacent and in April 1811 the key fort was only held by an Italian provisional battalion . Rovira ' s coup . General of Brigade François Gilles Guillot was the governor of the fortress . His garrison was made up of replacements from the French - allied Kingdom of Italy and Kingdom of Naples . Guillot was " negligent and easy - going " according to historian Charles Oman . The small size of the garrison and the governor ' s slackness inspired the fighting priest Francesc Rovira i Sala and the leaders of the miquelets to attempt to seize the fort in a coup de main . Rovira was in contact with three young Spaniards who had access to the fort and who posed as pro - French . Juan Marquez was the servant of Bouclier , the commissary of the fortress , while the brothers Ginés and Pedro Pons were under - storekeepers . Marquez managed to make copies of the keys to one postern gate and the storerooms . Rovira requested help from the commander of the Army of Catalonia , Captain General Luis Gonzalez Torres de Navarra , Marquess of Campoverde and the general promised support for the operation . On 7 April 1811 , Rovira and his lieutenants assembled 2 , 000 miquelets north of Olot in the Pyrenees and launched a feint attack toward France . On the 9th , the miquelets changed course and headed for Figueres , arriving there in the evening . At 1 : 00 AM on 10 April , a body of 700 men under Captains Casas and Llovera crept up to the postern gate where Marquez and the Pons brothers waited . Rovira ' s feint had alerted the garrison and a large portion of it had been marching in the hills all day in a futile effort to catch the partisans . After unlocking the postern gate , the miquelets entered the fort . The Neapolitans who made up the main - guard at the front gate were attacked from behind and overpowered . Guillot was captured in bed while his sleepy troops were defeated in detail as they stumbled from the barracks . Within an hour , the fortress was in the hands of the Catalan guerillas and they opened the gates to admit their compatriots . By the next day , 2 , 000 guerillas occupied the citadel . Guillot and about 900 Italians were captured and 35 killed and wounded . Rovira and his men also seized hundreds of cannons , 16 , 000 muskets , huge stocks of shoes and clothing , four months provisions for 2 , 000 men , and 400 , 000 francs . The partisans lost about 25 men killed and wounded . Emperor Napoleon was infuriated by the loss of the citadel and ordered 14 , 000 men to be assembled for its recapture . General of Division Luigi Gaspare Peyri with an Italian reinforcement battalion had arrived in the town of Figueres on the 9th . He was on the way to take over command of General of Division Domenico Pino ' s division . After a few soldiers escaped to warn him that the fort was taken , Peyri took his 650 men and retreated south to Bàscara . Notified of the disaster , General of Division Louis Baraguey d ' Hilliers sent Peyri an infantry battalion and a cavalry squadron . D ' Hilliers told Peyri to return to Figueres and keep an eye on the fortress while he gathered reinforcements . Relief attempt . 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 large flock of sheep . In the combat , the French lost 400 men killed and wounded . Spanish losses exceeded 1 , 000 killed , wounded , and captured . The French 3rd and 23rd Light each lost one officer killed and four wounded . In the rest of their units , one officer was killed and five wounded . Soon afterward , Campoverde heard that Suchet ' s columns were closing on Tarragona . Since the important port was only held by General Juan de Courten ' s division , the Spanish commander immediately withdrew from Figueres . He ordered Sarsfield with 2 , 000 foot soldiers and the cavalry to menace Suchet ' s supply road to Lleida . Taking 4 , 000 infantry , Campoverde marched to Mataró , loaded the men aboard ships , and sailed to Tarragona . Siege . Before d ' Hilliers could reimpose the blockade , Eroles left the fortress with several hundred soldiers . This left Martínez to defend Sant Ferran with 3 , 000 miquelets , one battalion of the " Ultonia " Infantry Regiment , and two battalions each of the " Antequera " and " Voluntarios de Valencia " Infantry Regiments . There were about 1 , 500 Spanish regulars altogether . The remainder of Plauzonne ' s division arrived in May . MacDonald brought some troops from Barcelona and took over command from d ' Hilliers . By the end of May over 15 , 000 Imperial French troops were assembled before Figueres . MacDonald began to construct an extensive system of siege works designed to keep the garrison inside and any potential relieving force outside . On 28 June 1811 , the Siege of Tarragona came to an end when Suchet ' s troops successfully stormed the upper city . The Spanish defenders lost 6 , 000 – 7 , 000 killed and 8 , 000 captured in the disaster . The French suffered 4 , 300 casualties . Suchet followed up his victory by overrunning a major guerilla base at the Battle of Montserrat on 25 July 1811 . Meanwhile , Martínez maintained a stout defense of Sant Ferran through May , June , and July . He put his garrison on half - rations to stretch out his provisions . Rovira had gone to Cadiz to beg for help from the Supreme Central and Governing Junta of the Kingdom , but they were unable to offer any . MacDonald completed his lines of investment , pushing his artillery within of the fortress . However , he never attempted to breach the walls of Sant Ferran . Rather , he waited for hunger to force the defenders to give up . Meanwhile , his own troops were ravaged by malaria and dysentery in their unhealthy camps during the summer months . By this time , Macdonald led a besieging army of 15 , 000 men . Quesnel ' s division was organized as stated earlier . Plauzonne led four battalions of the 3rd Light , three battalions of the 11th Line , and one battalion of the 32nd Light . Maurice Mathieu ' s division consisted of three battalions of the 5th Line , two battalions of the 1st Nassau Regiment , and one battalion each of the 18th Light , 23rd Line , and 56th Line . Colonel Jean - Martin Petit ' s brigade included four battalions of the 67th Line and one battalion each of the 16th and 81st Line . General of Brigade Simon Lefebvre ' s brigade had one battalion each of the 8th Light , 37th Line , 60th Line , 2nd Swiss , Würzburg , and Westphalian Infantry Regiments , plus three provisional battalions . On 17 July 1811 , Martínez sent 850 prisoners out of the fortress without insisting on an exchange . The starved men reported to the besiegers that they had received almost no food in the last few days before their release . The Spanish , however , kept Guillot and his officers as useful hostages . MacDonald took this as a sign that the Spanish might swiftly surrender , but Martínez held out until mid - August . The Spanish commander knew about the Tarragona catastrophe and realized relief was hopeless but he determined to hang on until the last moment . By mid - August , the defenders had eaten every horse , dog , and rat and had only three days of food left . Martínez planned a breakout on the night of 16 August . Rovira , who had come back from Cadiz , menaced the north side of MacDonald ' s siege works with 2 , 000 guerillas . However , a French force chased his men out of the area . As soon as night fell , Martínez launched a massed column of his fittest troops at the southwestern siege lines . The Spanish column overran the pickets and the outpost line , but the soldiers were brought to a stand by a dense abatis . While they were caught in this awkward position , two French batteries opened fire on the column . After suffering 400 casualties , the survivors fled back into the fortress . The following day d ' Hilliers sent an officer under a flag of truce into the fort and Martínez agreed to surrender after issuing his last rations . On 19 August 1811 , the Spanish garrison marched out and laid down its weapons . During the siege 4 , 000 French soldiers died , mostly from disease . In the Spanish garrison , 1 , 500 died , 1 , 000 were sick in the hospital , and 2 , 000 marched into captivity . When MacDonald found Juan Marquez among the prisoners , he immediately had the unfortunate young man hanged from the fortress walls . The Pons brothers had escaped with Eroles and one of them survived until 1850 with the rank of brigadier general . Aftermath . Though the siege ended in surrender , both Rovira and Martínez had rendered excellent service to Spain by tying up the VII Corps for the entire summer . MacDonald and d ' Hilliers were unable to sent a single soldier to assist Suchet in the capture of Tarragona . On 10 July 1811 , Campoverde was replaced as Captain General in Catalonia by Luis Roberto de Lacy . According to the historian Oman , Campoverde ' s " miserable inefficiency " was largely to blame for the disasters of 1811 . Though unpopular , the new commander began a vigorous campaign with the few remaining troops in Catalonia . In August he invaded the French Cerdagne , provoking Napoleon ' s fury . In September Lacy reorganized the 8 , 000 - man Army of Catalonia into three weak divisions under Generals Eroles , Sarsfield , and Francisco Milans del Bosch . With the help of the Royal Navy , Lacy seized the Medes Islands at the mouth of the Ter River on 12 September . In October , he wiped out a series of small French garrisons in the Battle of Cervera . This defeat forced the French to withdraw the troops occupying Montserrat . MacDonald was recalled on 28 October and replaced by General of Division Charles Mathieu Isidore Decaen . The marshal ' s reputation had been sullied by his disappointing performance in Spain .