Jean - Pierre - Antoine Rey Jean - Pierre - Antoine Rey ( 21 December 1767 - 12 January 1842 ) commanded a famous French infantry regiment during the Napoleonic Wars and became a general officer in 1808 . He led an infantry brigade in a number of actions in Spain . His brother Louis Emmanuel Rey was a French general of brigade who also served in Spain during the Peninsular War . Since most sources do not distinguish between the generals named Rey , the two are easily confused . Early career . Rey was born on 21 December 1767 . He became colonel of the 57th Line Infantry Regiment on 11 November 1803 . In the War of the Third Coalition the 57th fought at the Battles of Memmingen , Ulm , and Austerlitz . At Austerlitz on 2 December 1805 , the regiment fought in Dominique Vandamme ' s division of Marshal Nicolas Soult ' s IV Corps . On 25 December 1805 , Rey received the Commandant ' s Cross of the Légion d ' Honneur . Peninsular War 1808 – 1809 . The Dos de Mayo Uprising in May 1808 rendered the French occupation of Spain insecure . Among other units sent to Spain to reinforce the Imperial French units already there were ten veteran battalions under Georges Mouton . Dropping off one brigade at Vitoria , Mouton joined the army of Marshal Jean - Baptiste Bessières and fought at the Battle of Medina de Rioseco on 14 July 1808 . Hilaire Benoît Reynaud ' s brigade with 3 , 000 men of the 4th Light and 15th Line Infantry Regiments participated in the battle . The troops left at Vitoria were commanded by Rey , a newly minted brigadier . The brigade consisted of the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 2nd Light and 12th Line Infantry Regiments and one battalion of the " Garde de Paris " . On 9 November 1808 , Marshal Nicolas Soult replaced Bessières in command of the II Corps with Mouton ' s troops designated the 1st Division . The next day , Soult crushed an outclassed Spanish army at the Battle of Burgos . Seeing the Spanish deployed in a bad position , the French marshal placed Édouard Jean Baptiste Milhaud ' s dragoon division on the left , Antoine Lasalle ' s light cavalry in the center , and Mouton ' s infantry on the right . Not bothering to wait for divisions under Pierre Hugues Victoire Merle and Jean Pierre François Bonet to arrive , Soult ordered an attack . After a cavalry charge collapsed the Spanish right wing , Lasalle ' s horsemen swung to take the left wing in flank while Mouton ' s foot soldiers mounted a frontal attack . In the subsequent slaughter , French losses were probably less than 200 while the Spanish may have lost 2 , 500 killed and wounded and another 900 captured . The same regiments fought under Merle at the Battle of Corunna on 16 January 1809 , but Rey was no longer with the division by that time . The brigadiers were Reynaud , Jacques Thomas Sarrut , and Jean Guillaume Barthélemy Thomières . At the Battle of Talavera on 28 July 1809 , Rey led a brigade in the IV Corps division of Horace François Sébastiani . Sébastiani arranged his brigades side by side in two lines . Therefore , the six battalions of Rey ' s 28th Line Infantry Regiment and Louis Ligier - Bellair ' s 58th Line were in the front line . Their initial attack was launched against the British 61st Foot and the Guards Brigade . Ignoring the French musketry , the red coats waited until their enemies were away before firing a murderous volley . The front ranks of French soldiers were mowed down and the survivors took to their heels with the British infantry in enthusiastic pursuit . The 61st Foot soon halted , but the British Guards chased their enemies too far . The routed French battalions rallied behind the second line and , with the help of their powerful artillery , defeated and threw back the Guards . A second French attack rolled forward , threatening to burst through the mauled enemy formations . The British commander Arthur Wellesley quickly brought up Alexander Randoll Mackenzie ' s brigade and there was a deadly musketry duel for twenty minutes before the second French attack was beaten back . Losses were appalling on both sides . Sebastiani ' s division suffered 2 , 100 casualties , of whom only 60 were made prisoners . The butcher ' s bill included all four colonels wounded , seven of 12 battalion commanders , and 70 other officers . On the British side , Mackenzie was killed and his brigade lost 632 casualties out of roughly 2 , 000 . The Guards lost 611 out of 2 , 000 . The 61st Foot lost 265 men . The second line units in Sébastiani ' s division were the 32nd and 75th Line Infantry Regiments . Peninsular War 1810 – 1814 . Spanish General Joaquín Blake y Joyes Blake advanced from the Murcian border on 2 November 1810 with 8 , 000 infantry and 1 , 000 cavalry . Cúllar was reached on the 3rd and the small Spanish army kept going . Blake committed a serious blunder by allowing his troops to become badly spread out . His advance guard of cavalry and 3 , 000 infantry bivouacked near Baza on the evening of the 3rd . His 2 , 000 - man rear guard camped near Cúllar while his remaining division was situated between the two towns . Defending Baza was Rey with a brigade from Sebastiani ' s 1st Division . Rey ' s force counted one battalion of the 32nd Line Infantry Regiment and three battalions of the 58th Line . But help was on the way . Receiving news of the Spanish invasion , Édouard Milhaud marched his cavalry to Baza . He reaching there early on 4 November 1810 and united his horsemen with Rey ' s 2 , 000 French infantry . Milhaud brought 1 , 300 cavalrymen , including the 5th , 12th , 16th , 20th , and 21st Dragoon Regiments and the Polish lancers of the Legion of the Vistula . The French also had two horse artillery batteries . Blake had 12 guns in addition to the 1st and 2nd Divisions of the Army of the Center . Arranging his troopers on both sides of the main highway , Milhaud ordered a cavalry charge . The French horsemen plowed into Blake ' s horsemen and scattered them . As the Spanish cavalry fled , they rode through their own infantry formations . When the French dragoons and Polish lancers galloped toward the disordered Spanish infantry , the men took to their heels . The Imperial French horsemen completely smashed Blake ' s vanguard , hacking down scores of soldiers and capturing hundreds of others . When the French came upon Blake ' s second division deployed in difficult terrain , they stopped their charge . Blake quickly ordered a retreat . In the Battle of Baza the French lost 200 killed and wounded . The cavalry won the battle and Rey ' s infantry suffered negligible losses . Blake ' s army lost 500 killed and wounded and 1 , 000 soldiers captured . In February 1812 , Francisco Ballesteros with 2 , 000 Spanish infantry and 300 cavalry attempted to seize the port of Málaga . On the 16th the Spanish force bumped into Jean - Pierre Maransin with 2 , 000 French infantry and 400 cavalry at the village of Cártama . Ballesteros claimed to have killed Maransin and cut down 1 , 200 of his men . In fact , Maransin was wounded and his troops suffered about 150 casualties . The Spanish force retreated when Rey appeared with 2 , 500 foot and 200 horse and aimed an attack at Ballesteros ' flank .