In other parts of Spain, the patriots were not equally fortunate. The death of the Marquis de la Romana. was a severe loss to the Spaniards. On the 1st of Ja.
rotary 1811, Tortosa surrendered to Marshal Macdonald, after 13 days open trenches ; and the garrison, consist ing of 9500, laid down their arms, and were made pri soners of war. Tarragona, after a month's siege, sur rendered to Marshal Sucher. Cherishing constant hopes of relief, the Spanish garrison maintained a brave resis tance, and made several destructive sorties against the besiegers. The place, however, was taken by assault, on the 29th of June, and the people, as well as the brave garrison, were treated with unexampled cruelty. Four thousand men were killed in the city ; 1000, who en deavoured to save themselves behind the walls, were either sabred or drowned ; and nearly 10,000, of whom 500 were officers, were taken prisoners, and sent to France. The junta of Tarragona escaped to the mo nastery of Montserrat, the fortifications of which had been deemed impregnable ; but Suchet, following up his success, likewise made himself master of Montser rat, on the 24th of July.
About the beginning of August, the army of Lord Wellington marched from its cantonments on the Alen tejo towards the north of Portugal, and took up a fresh position, nearly on the ground which it occupied before the battle of Fuentes de'llonor.
With the view of relieving Ciudad Rodrigo, the ene my commenced their movements on the 21st of Septem ber. On the 23d, they appeared on the plain near Ciu dad Rodrigo, but again retired. On the 24th, they entered the plain in considerable force, and on the morn ing of the 25th, a body of their cavalry drove in the Bri tish posts on the right of the Azara, but, having passed that river, they were compelled to recross it by a body of the 14th and 16th light dragoons.
The enemy's attention was principally directed to the position of the third division, on the hills between Fu ente Guinaldo and Pastores. Their attempts to gain that position were repulsed with great gallantry ; but on the arrival of a division of French infantry', Lord Wellington judged it prudent to retire, and the army, formed into squares, retreated in good order to Fuente Guinaldo. On the evening of the 25th, and on the 26th, the enemy collected their whole force in front of the allied army ; but Lord Wellington thought it advisable to retreat, and on the 28th, lie formed his army on the heights behind Soito, having the Sierra das Mefas on his right, and his left at Renda, on the Coa.
Marshal Suchet, with 20,000 men, entered the king dom of Valencia from Tortosa, and laid siege to the strong fortress of Murviedro, the ancient Saguntum. On the 29th of September, he made three attempts to obtain possession of the fort by escalade, but in all of them he was repulsed with great loss, and obliged to leave his ladders behind. In the mean time, General Blake, who had taken the command of the armies of Murcia and Valencia, assembled troops from every quarter, and gave battle to Suchet on the 25th of Oc tober, ith a view of relieving Murviedro. The Spa
niards fought with the greatest gallantry, and several times outflanked and drove the French from their posi tion; but the decisive manoeuvre of penerating their centre, was successfully practised by Suchet, and Blake was obliged to fly after an engagement of seven hours, in which he lost about 6500 in killed, wounded, and pri soners. The result of this victory was the capitulation of Murviedro, the garrison of which marched out through the breach on the 27th of October, with all the honours of war. The prisoners who thus fell into the hands of the French, with those taken at the battle of the 25th, amounted to 7211, of whom 369 were officers.
The operations of the allied army in the north of For turgal were attended with more success. General Hill left his cantonments near Portalcgre, on the 22d of October, and advanced towards the Spanish frontier. When he arrived at Albuquerque, on the 23d, he learn ed that the French troops under the command of Ge neral Girard,amounting to 2500 infantry, and 600 caval ry,had retired upon Merida ; and, after following them for four days, he had every reason to believe that Girard was not only in total ignorance of the approach of the British troops, but was completely off his guard. The main body of the French had halted at Arroyo del Mo line), on the evening of the 27th, and General Hill re solved either to surprise the enemy, or bring him to action before he should march in the morning. By a forced march, on the evening of the 27th, the British troops reached Alcuesca, within a league of Arroyo del Molino, and at 2 o'clock on the morning of the 28th, they marched in one column upon that town. When they had arrived within half a mile of the town, the British troops divided into three columns, under co ver of a low ridge, and the subsequent movements of these columns were concealed by a violent storm of rain and mist, which came on at the dawn of day. The left column marched directly upon the town, the right co lumn broke off to turn the enemy's left, and the third column, consisting of the cavalry, moved between the other two. The 71st and 92c1 regiments charged into the town with cheers, and drove the enemy at the point of the bayonet. The French infantry, which was out of the town, formed into two squares, with their cavalry on their left; but being unable to withstand the charges of the British cavalry, and the well-directed fire of their musketry, they dispersed, and endeavoured to escape by ascending the mountain behind the town. Their caval ry fled in every direction ; the infantry threw away their arms, and being pursued over the rocks by the troops under Major-General Howard, more than 1400 were made prisoners, and 600 were found dead in the woods and mountains. The general of cavalry, Brune, and the colonel of cavalry, Prince D'Armberg, with many offi cers, were among the prisoners, while General Girard himself, who was wounded in the engagement, escaped to Llerena, with only two or three hundred men.