The Rock Against Napoleon:
The Importance of Gibraltar
to the Napoleonic Wars
1810-1815
by Cole H. KeKelis, USA
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The new lieutenant-governor of Gibraltar, Sir Colin Campbell, sent British garrison troops from Gibraltar to reinforce Cadiz. Campbell thus worked to reinforce and fortify Cadiz and Tarifa in preparation for the imminent French attacks.
One can see just how close the war was to Gibraltar, the rocky British general of the Peninsular War, in 1810. Indeed, Soult was to march down upon San Roque, the Spanish town bordering the Gibraltar Peninsula. The people of San Roque fled to the protection of the guns of Gibraltar, and a group of Spanish cavalry charged the advancing Frenchmen. Soult regarded Gibraltar as impenetrable; instead of assaulting Gibraltar in what would have been the fifteenth siege of the Rock, Soult divided his forces in concentrations against Cadiz and Granada.
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General Thomas Graham led the defenders at Cadiz and repelled the French attack with aid from Portugal and Gibraltar. Cadiz was the centre of the major junta of revolutionary Spain. Should Cadiz have fallen to the French, it would have been a great blow to Spanish resistance. [21]
The siege of Cadiz continued for two and one-half years, but the city held, thanks largely to the supplies and support of Gibraltar.
In May of 1810, Soult sent men to take Tarifa, a key port city just a few miles west of Gibraltar. Lieutenant-Governor Sir Colin Campbell of Gibraltar reinforced Tarifa, which held off the French attacks. Despite Campbell’s success at Tarifa, his operations in October of 1810 at Malaga, in which Campbell attempted to liberate an old Moorish fortress, were a great failure. Thirty-two of his men were killed and 208 were captured. In late 1810, a yellow fever epidemic spread throughout Andalusia, and the border between Gibraltar and Spain was closed. General Campbell worked to improve health
and sanitation measures at Gibraltar, and Mar-shal Soult continued to harass the Gibraltar region. [22]
Gibraltar, which had by now taken part directly in much combat action in the Peninsular War, was being worn thin by the constant attacks and the outbreak of yellow fever, but the Rock held and continued to impede the progress of Napoleon.
Meanwhile, Massena’s advance on Portugal was halted by Wellington’s Torres Vedras defence fortification lines. Napoleon ordered Soult to come to the aid of Massena, leaving only a small force of Frenchmen in Andalusia and thus giving Gibraltar a much-needed reprieve.
Once Soult had gone, an attempt was made to lift the siege of Cadiz. A combined Anglo-Spanish force commanded by General La Pena and co-commanded by the British General Graham attempted to lift the siege.
Gibraltar played a key role in supplying provisions, men and transport, but the operation was a failure and resulted in the Battle of Barrosa, which, although a victory for the British over the French General Victor, was followed by an ignominious withdraw by General La Pena, who abandoned Graham and forced the latter to abandon his advance and to return to Cadiz, which was once again blockaded and besieged.
Marshal Massena was still halted before the Torres Vedras Lines of Wellington, and when Soult heard of Victor’s defeat at Barrossa, that marshal returned to Andalusia in spite of Napoleon’s orders. Soult’s agents then convinced the sultan of Morocco to cut of supplies to Britain through Ceuta should Soult take Tarifa and give trade priorities there to the Moors. So it was that Soult made another gamble on Tarifa in 1811. General Campbell sent Captain Sir Charles Stewart and Captain Mitchell to fortify the town. Stewart and Mitchell did their job well, but before Soult could assault Tarifa, a certain guerilla leader named Ballesteros began attacking Soult’s men.
The marshal sent General Godinot to undo Ballesteros, but the Spaniard fled to the protection of the guns of Gibraltar. Godinot ravaged the town of San Roque but did not attack Gibraltar because he had no siege weapons. [23]
Godinot then made for Tarifa, but bombardment from British frigates along the coast forced him to abandon this. Thanks to Ballesteros and the aid given him by Gibraltar, Tarifa was thus once again given reprieve. But Soult attacked Tarifa in earnest when General Laval arrived with siege weapons. During the siege of Tarifa, the military commander, Colonel Skerret, made plans to withdraw and abandon Tarifa, but a certain Colonel Gough, who was part of the Gibraltar garrison, sent word to Lieutenant-General Campbell, who ordered that withdraw not be considered and who sent additional aid from Gibraltar. [24]
The siege went well for the French until rain storms demolished their siege works. In frustration, the French assaulted Tarifa, but they were so disorganized and the British were so prepared that the French were decimated. General Laval was forced to retreat; thus Soult abandoned Tarifa once and for all. Gibraltar had come through yet again, and Napoleon’s forces were met with little success.
In 1812, Napoleon invaded Russia. Although Soult still attempted to quash revolt in Andalusia, supplies from Gibraltar continued to pour into the hands of rebels like Ballesteros. Then Wellington pushed out of Portugal, and Andalusia was abandoned by the French. Gibraltar was safe from attack. The Rock had defended southern Spain and had drained Napoleon’s resources from 1808 to 1813 in the
Peninsular War. Gibraltar frustrated some of Napoleon’s best commanders with strategic troop movements, military advisers, and seemingly endless supplies.
The cooperation between Britain and Spain during the Peninsular War spawned happy relations which made the position of Gibraltar uncontested for one hundred years.
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Napoleon’s invasion of Russia was a failure, and while Wellington pressed through and liberated Spain, Bonaparte was harried by allied coalition forces into France, where the Emperor abdicated. Napoleon was sent to Elba, but he returned, only to be defeated at Waterloo. Bonaparte was then exiled to St. Helena, where he died. Thus has been traced the history of Gibraltar from 1789 to 1815 with the aim of identifying all events by which the Rock contributed militarily to the demise of Napoleon.
Gibraltar played the centre role in the destruction of Bonaparte’s naval power by means of several major sea battles between 1796 and 1805. The Rock also kept the rebels active in southern Spain, and through careful use of its men and resources managed to preserve the key southern Spanish port cities and frustrated the best efforts of Napoleon to plant his standards upon the Pillars of Hercules.
The Rock Against Napoleon The Importance of Gibraltar to the Napoleonic Wars
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It was in 1810 that Soult was ordered by Napoleon himself to take Andalusia while Marshal Massena was to reclaim Portugal. By the end of February, only Cadiz, Tarifa and Gibraltar were not occupied by Soult’s forces. [19]