Castaños (1758-1852) was only 10 years old when King Carlos III first granted him the rank of captain of infantry. As a young officer he went to study at the Seminar of Nobles, and later completed his training at the Academy of Barcelona.
Castaños was Alexander O'Reilly’s brother in-law, and went with him to Prussia to learn from Friedrich the Great's military institution.
In 1794 Castaños served in the army of Navarre, under general Ventura Caro (see our previous post about the War of the Pyrenees: https://www.facebook.com/groups/768183316680632/permalink/1209132945918998/). At the peace of 1796 he was made marechal-de-camp, and in 1798, a lieutenant-general. Castaños was later banished from Madrid by Manuel Gody. In 1808, when the French first invaded Spain, he offered his services to the Supreme Junta, and was made commander of the army that was sent to oppose the French led by general Dupont. He marched against them with 40,000. After Cordova was taken by the French, they were beaten back at the battle of Bailén (July 1808), the first ever open field defeat of a Napoleonic army.
Castaños was later heavily defeated at the battle of Tudela on November 23, 1808 and lost much of his influence. However, in 1811 the Regency, named him commander of the 4th Spanish army, and captain-general of Estremadura, Old Castile, Galicia, and other provinces. He commanded the lines at St. Roche and the principal Spanish army. He then participated in Wellington’s campaigns, the siege of Burgos (1812) and the battle of Vittoria (1813). When Napoleon returned from Elba, Castaños was placed at the head of an army of 70,000 Spaniards to assist the allies; but that assistance was not wanted, and Castanos retired from the frontiers of France.
Castaños finally resigned his command to general Luis Lacy y Gautier in the summer of 1816. From then, he took an active part in public affairs during the reigns of Fernando VII and Isabel II. Castaños died at Madrid in 1852 at age 94.
Source: A New Biographical Dictionary, of 3000 Contemporary Public characters, 1825.
Illustration: General Castaños, Madrid, 1808, by Dionisio A. Cueto.
No comments:
Post a Comment