Siege of Bellegarde ( 1793 ) The Siege of Bellegarde commenced on 23 May 1793 and ended on 24 June 1793 when Colonel Boisbrulé ' s French garrison surrendered the Fort de Bellegarde to a Spanish army under the command of Antonio Ricardos . The capture of the fort gave Spain control of an important road through the Pyrenees . The siege took place during the War of the Pyrenees , part of the French Revolutionary Wars . Fort de Bellegarde is on a height overlooking the border town of Le Perthus , which lies on the modern A9 autoroute and Autovía A - 7 . Background . King Louis XIV of France built Fort de Bellegarde after 1678 according to a plan drawn up by Sébastien de Vauban . This strong masonry fortress defended the Col de Le Perthus which crosses the Pyrenees at an altitude of . The pass is the most important route from Spain into France in the eastern Pyrenees . As Vauban noted , " Nothing overlooks this place " , and the fortress is situated on the highest ground in the area . When Spain went to war with revolutionary France in mid - April 1793 , Captain General Antonio Ricardos faced a strategic problem . With Bellegarde dominating the main road into France , the Spanish commander must surround , besiege , and capture the place before he could use the main road as a supply route for his invading army . Accordingly , Ricardos crossed the Pyrenees 20 km to the southwest with 4 , 500 soldiers and descended on the village of Saint - Laurent - de - Cerdans . In the first skirmish of the War of the Pyrenees , the Spanish evicted the 400 French defenders . Continuing his left hook , Ricardos ' 4 , 400 troops fell upon a French force at the town of Céret on the Tech River . The French , 800 regulars and 1 , 000 National Guards with 4 cannons , panicked and fled . Between 100 and 200 Frenchmen became victims of Spanish musketry and steel , while another 200 drowned trying to cross the Tech . Ricardos reported only 17 men wounded . During the initial operations , the Spanish commander placed a detachment near Bellegarde to keep Boisbrulé and his garrison from raiding Spanish supply convoys . With the seizure of Céret , Ricardos placed his army nearly in the rear of Bellegarde . After receiving some reinforcements , he advanced farther to the northeast to the vicinity of Trouillas . At this location , the 7 , 000 Spanish troops were confronted by the Army of the Eastern Pyrenees led by General of Division Louis - Charles de Flers . At the Battle of Mas Deu on 19 May , Ricardos defeated de Flers with the loss of 150 killed , 280 wounded , plus three cannons and six ammunition wagons captured . The Spanish lost 34 killed and an unknown number of wounded . The demoralized French soldiers retreated north to the department capital of Perpignan , where a battalion of National Guard mutinied and had to be disbanded . Rather than press on , Ricardos turned back to besiege Bellegarde , which overlooked his main supply route back to Barcelona . Siege . The siege of Bellegarde and its garrison of 1 , 536 French soldiers began on 23 May . The garrison ' s firepower included at least 41 cannons and seven mortars . The 6 , 000 Spanish besiegers and 34 cannons first concentrated their efforts on reducing two outworks on the north side of the main fort . The French Émigré " Vallespir " battalion fought alongside the Spanish . By 30 May , Ricardos had sited 16 guns in batteries at a distance of 1 , 200 paces from Fort les Bains . On 3 June , 350 Frenchmen surrendered the outwork after a bombardment . Two days later , the Fort de la Garde fell after its water supply was cut off , and 200 more French soldiers became prisoners of war . While siege operations proceeded , 3 , 350 Frenchmen tried to escort a supply convoy to the fortress but were driven off on 29 May . For several weeks the Spanish siege guns pounded the fortress until a breach was made in the main wall . By this time , 42 of the 50 French artillery pieces were dismounted . Facing the prospect of an assault with his defenses compromised , Boisbrulé formally surrendered Bellegarde on 24 June . The remaining soldiers of the garrison marched into captivity . During the month - long siege , the French suffered losses of 30 killed , 56 wounded , and 1 , 450 captured . Spanish losses are not known . Results . With the Fort de Bellegarde secured , the Spanish army became able to use the Col de La Pertus as a supply route . Ricardos lunged at the capital of Rousillon but suffered a stinging repulse at the Battle of Perpignan on 17 July 1793 . De Flers ' French suffered 800 casualties out of a total of 12 , 000 troops . The French also lost one cannon and had 600 desertions . Out of 15 , 000 soldiers , the Spanish lost approximately 1 , 000 casualties . De Flers had used the month in which Ricardos reduced Bellegarde to train his green recruits and surround Perpignan with field fortifications . The French turned back Ricardos again in the Battle of Peyrestortes on 17 September , but the Spanish turned the tables on their opponents in the Battle of Truillas five days later .