Battle of La Gudina The Battle of La Gudina or Battle of Val Gudina " ( Spanish : Batalla de La Gudiña ) ( Portuguese : Batalha de Caia ) " was fought on 7 May 1709 near Arronches between the Spanish Bourbon army of Extremadura , under the Marquis de Bay , and the Portuguese and British , under the Huguenot Earl of Galway and the Marquis of Fronteira . This battle resulted in a crushing defeat for the Anglo - Portuguese army , 4 , 000 - 5 , 000 soldiers were killed , wounded or captured , while the Spanish had only 400 soldiers dead or wounded . Advancing from Elvas and passing the river Caya ( " Caia in Portuguese " ) the Anglo - Portuguese army had in front the Spaniards commanded by the Marquis de Bay . On the 17th of May and on the plain of La Gudina the two armies met . The Portuguese cavalry was routed with but slight resistance , and it left exposed two battalions of English foot , which were thus cut off and compelled to lay down their arms . Henri de Massue , Earl of Galway , who had a horse shot under him , narrowly escaped being taken with them . The rest of the Anglo - Portuguese army made an orderly retreat to Elvas , maintaining their position there during the rest of the campaign , the Austrian danger from the Portuguese frontier was staved off for the moment . Background . After the defeat at the Battle of Almansa , the British situation was desperate , they were no longer present in the south - eastern territory of Spain and had minimum or not importance in the course of the war . Henri de Massue formally pressed London to sent more reinforcements , and Britain responded sending 25 , 000 men . About 8 , 000 British troops were sent to Portugal under the orders of the Earl of Galway , and the rest to Catalonia . In Portugal , Galway met with the Marquis of Fronteira to prepare his combined attack against the Bourbon allies of Spain and advance toward Madrid . But for this , first they had to capture the city of Badajoz , a Spanish stronghold in the Portuguese frontier . In the past , Henri de Massue had already tried twice to capture the city without success . This time he did not take the risk , and knowing that France had withdrawn its troops in view of the defeats of Louis XIV had suffered on the mainland , his Anglo - Portuguese army crossed the border , composed by high of 20 , 000 Portuguese and 8 , 000 English , near the fortress of Campo Mayor , towards Badajoz . While his enormous supply train crosses the river Caya , the Anglo - Portuguese contacted in the fields of Gudiña with the vanguards of the Spanish cavalry . The allies , according to the Portuguese account , were 49 regiments of infantry and cavalry , against but 40 on the side of their Spanish opponents ; according to the London Gazette , No 4538 , about 17 , 000 foot and 5 , 000 horse in very good order , and , by the reports from the deserters , much superior in number to the enemy . The Spanish army were , by their published line of battle , about 24 battalions and 47 squadrons . The artillery of each party was stated as equal , or 20 pieces of artillery . The Battle . The allied army who had thrown nine bridges across the river Caya , were ready to began the fight . In the center were deployed troops of the Marquis of Fronteira , but his troops were unable to see the Spanish infantry , because it did not happen again on the battlefield , unlike the cavalry . On the left flank , the first line was commanded by the Count of San Juan , and the second line was positioned under the command of the Earl of Galway , with three British regiments . The allies stretched this wing to take advantage of their numerical superiority , and thus outflank the opposing Spanish wing . After several attacks designed to attract Anglo - Portuguese forces , the Marquis de Bay , - who ordered the Spanish cavalry on the right flank - sent the Spaniards to attack the Portuguese in the first row . The very well trained and experienced Spanish cavalry made the Portuguese flee , the Count of San Juan desperately tried to reorganize its troops but failed and was captured . The Spanish cavalry also captured a battery of artillery . Lord Galway then launched an attack to take the battery with 3 regiments . The Spanish dragoons dismounted and engaged the English with them , who were advancing , while the Spanish cavalry were dominating the fields , and the English attempted to retreat into a building . At that point Galway then went jumped on a horse and fled . Lord Barrymore and General Pearse were captured . The British regiment was virtually wiped out three times , most of them were killed and captured . The Spanish cavalry pursued the Anglo - Portuguese , killing 1 , 500 and capturing 1 , 000 . The first and second lines of the Anglo - Portuguese wing fled . English Col . Ally , who commanded the center , which had no cavalry , also took flight , even before the Spanish infantry arrived on the field . Leaving all the standards , as well as , tents , baggage and guns on the field , he recrossed the river Caya , without destroying the bridges behind their passage . Aftermath . The Portuguese and British were severely defeated , with the loss in every way , of about 4 , 000 men , 17 cannon , 15 colours or standards , as well as tents , and baggage ; the Spaniards having had about 400 men , and 100 horses , killed or wounded . The Allies had about 1 , 700 men killed and wounded ; those captured were altogether about 2 , 300 ; of whom the greater number , or 1 , 500 , were Queen Anne ' s troops , and the remainder , or 800 , were Portuguese . The chief British ( besides Portuguese ) officers , made prisoners , were Major - General James Barry , 4th Earl of Barrymore , and Nicholas Sankey ; Brigadier - General Thomas Pearce ; the 2nd Colonel of the Regiment of Galway , with Major Thomas Gordon of that corps ; Lieutenant - Colonel Henry Meredith of the Regiment of Colonel Thomas Stanwix , and Lord Henry Pawlet , Aide - de - Camp to the Earl of Galway ; the latter nobleman , ( unfortunate here as at Almansa , ) after having a horse shot out from under him , only escaping with difficulty . The Allies were thus disappointed in the preparations they had made , of being able , through their superior numbers , to capture Badajoz , and had the additional mortification to witness above 30 leagues of the Portuguese territory placed under contribution by the Marquis de Bay , who subsisted his army at the expense of his adversaries , by the end of this campaign . So generally discreditable to the British did their intelligence from Portugal appear , that a contemporary London annalist says : " For my part , I think the stories , and excuses , sent us from thence , are as mean , and poor , as our fighting , and conduct , seem to be . " The victory , which led to such satisfactory results for Philip V of Spain , Brigadier Henry Crofton with his Regiment of Dragoons of 4 squadrons , was in the 1st line of the Spanish right wing of cavalry , by whose impetuous charge , upon their Portuguese opponents , it is states , that " all the cavalry of the 2 lines of the enemy ' s left was , in less than half an hour , broken , overthrown , and put to flight . "