MILITARY LEADER OF THE DAY: MURAT, NAPOLEON’S CAVALRY COMMANDER

By Eric G. L. Pinzelli,
October 21, 2018

Murat at the battle of Aboukir by Job. His previous battles in Egypt had seen Napoleon take a defensive posture while the Mamluk armies battered themselves to destruction. This time, he went on to the offensive. While the infantry attacked the centre of the first line, Murat’s cavalry was sent against both the left and right flanks of the Ottoman line. This first line was rolled up and forced back on to the second line. Napoleon then rested his army, before starting the second phase of the battle at three in the afternoon. This second phase resulting in a crushing French victory. The Ottoman army was forced back into the sea. Thousands of Ottoman soldiers drowned attempting to escape, while Sir Sidney Smith’s fleet attempted to rescue as many men as possible. Amongst the escapees was the future ruler of Egypt, Mohammed Ali. This part of the battle is probably most famous for one of the very few occasions where opposing generals fought a personal combat, in this case between Mustapha Bey and Murat, the French cavalry commander. Murat’s cavalry charge brought him within feet of Mustapha. The two commanders spotted each other. Mustapha fired at Murat from close range, hitting him in the jaw. Murat responded with a sabre blow, chopping off two of Mustapha’s fingers and taking his pistol with them!

Joachim Murat (March 25, 1767 —October 13, 1815), was an outstanding and dashing French cavalry leader who was one of Napoleon’s most celebrated marshals and who, as a surprising good king of Naples (1808–15), lent stimulus to Italian nationalism. Prone to wearing flamboyant costumes, he was extremely brave and fought in approximately 200 battles.
The son of an innkeeper, he studied briefly for a career in the church but enlisted in a cavalry regiment in 1787 and, when war broke out in 1792, won rapid promotion. In October 1795 he was on hand in Paris at the moment that Napoleon Bonaparte was entrusted with the mission of suppressing a royalist insurrection; Murat’s contribution in bringing up cannon won him a place as aide-de-camp to Bonaparte for the Italian campaign of 1796–97. In Italy and later in Egypt (1798–99) he established his reputation as a gifted and daring leader of cavalry. At Aboukir, he led a cavalry charge against the Ottomans and captured the Turkish commander, Mustapha Bey, in a single combat (one of the few genuinely documented examples of this happening). Again he served his chief well in the coup d’état of 18 Brumaire (November 9, 1799), by which Bonaparte seized power as first consul. Murat’s reward was the hand of Napoleon’s youngest sister, Caroline.

Illustration by Giuseppe Rava: Murat leads the gigantic charge at Eylau.

In the Italian campaign of 1800 Murat helped win the decisive Battle of Marengo, and in 1801 he rapidly concluded the campaign against Bourbon-ruled Naples by imposing the Armistice of Foligno. As governor of Paris in 1804, he was included among the first generals promoted to the rank of marshal after Napoleon’s coronation as emperor on December 2. In 1805 he played a conspicuous role in the Austerlitz campaign, helping to pin the Austrian Army in Ulm, where it was forced to surrender, and defeating Austrian and Russian cavalry on the field of Austerlitz. At Jena in 1806 his energetic pursuit completed destruction of the Prussian Army; at Eylau in 1807 Napoleon ordered Murat to charge the Russians, and he led the 80 cavalry squadrons (15,000 men) of the cavalry reserve in one of the largest cavalry charges in history.

Murat, King of Naples by François Gérard, c. 1812.

When he was sent to act as Napoleon’s lieutenant in Spain he tried to gain possession of the unoccupied Spanish throne. His intrigues led instead to Spanish opposition and a rising in Madrid that, though quelled (May 2, 1808), ended his hopes. Though Napoleon gave the Spanish throne to his brother Joseph, he rewarded Murat with Joseph’s former place as king of Naples, under the name Joachim-Napoléon. In Naples Murat carried out important reforms, breaking up the vast landed estates and introducing the Napoleonic Code. The administration was opened to advancement by merit, cotton growing was encouraged, and effective measures were taken against the chronic brigandage. Murat even foresaw the unification of Italy, a development at whose head he sought to place himself through the encouragement of secret societies that eventually played a major role in the Risorgimento.

October 1815, Murat is executed by a firing squad, by Giuseppe Rava. His body was never found. Murat’s remains are thought to have been interred in a mass grave underneath Pizzo’s Church of St. George, but there were rumors that they had been spirited away to France.

In 1812 Murat took part in Napoleon’s Russian campaign and once more distinguished himself at Borodino; but, left in charge of the shattered Grand Army during the retreat from Moscow, he abandoned it to try to save his kingdom of Naples. In 1813 he wavered between loyalty to Napoleon and negotiation with the allies. The Austrians signed a treaty with him, but the former Bourbon rulers of Naples raised objections, and his situation was in doubt when Napoleon returned to France in 1815. Napoleon refused to offer him a military command during the Waterloo campaign, a serious mistake that greatly reduced the effectiveness of his cavalry at Waterloo. He then staked his hopes on an appeal to Italian nationalism, but he was forced to flee to Corsica disguised as a Danish sailor. In October, with 26 men, he made a last, hopeless attempt to recover Naples, was taken prisoner and shot. Before his death he shouted to the firing squad: "Soldiers! Do your duty! Straight to the heart but spare my face. Fire!"

MILITARY LEADER OF THE DAY: GENERAL FRANCISO JAVIER CASTAÑOS

By Eric G. L. Pinzelli,
November 23, 2018
 

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.

MILITARY LEADER OF THE DAY: JACQUES DE LINIERS (1753-1810), THE FRENCH KNIGHT OF MALTA WHO FOUGHT FOR SPAIN AND SAVED BUENOS AIRES.

By Eric G. L. Pinzelli,
June 27, 2019 

After graduating from the Order of Malta military school at age 15, Jacques de Liniers (from a very ancient French noble family) was commissioned as a Sub-Lieutenant of Cavalry in the Royal-Piémont Regiment at Carcassonne, France. In 1774 Liniers enlisted as a volunteer in the Spanish campaigns against the Moors in Algiers.

At the campaign's conclusion, Liniers took an exam as a Midshipman in Cádiz, to serve as a volunteer for the Spanish Crown. In 1775 he earned the rank of Ensign in the Spanish Navy. In 1776, under the orders of Pedro de Cevallos, Liniers sailed to the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata and took part on the occupation of Santa Catarina Island in Brazil and the attack on Colonia del Sacramento (Uruguay).

In 1779, Liniers was an officer on the San Vicente which part of the Spanish-French Naval Squadron fighting the British Royal Navy in South America. Liniers distinguished himself during the American Revolution. In 1780, with a few sloops, he captured a three-masted ship of 24 guns. In 1782, during the siege of Port Mahon, under fire, he moved to where two British ships had collided, which were laden with arms and ammunition. He seized the ships and conveyed them to the Spanish lines. He was promoted to Frigate Captain.

A few months later Liniers took part in a new expedition against the city of Algiers, in North Africa. When Madrid tried to negotiate with the local dey, Liniers was entrusted with the mission. The Spanish court rewarded Liniers for his diplomatic successes, promoting him to the rank of captain and entrusting him with the command of the Río de la Plata in 1788 to organize a flotilla of gunships.

In June 23, 1806, a British expeditionary force of 1,700 men landed on the left bank of the Río de la Plata and invaded Buenos Aires, which had been abandoned by the Viceroy. Liniers remained in the city in disguise, staying in the Dominican convent. At the altar of the Virgin, he vowed to return with the flags of the occupiers. He escaped to Montevideo and, with the help of its governor Pascual Ruiz Huidobro, galvanized the people, raising a troop of 1,200 volunteers.

He embarked with this liberation army on a few schooners, which joined a French privateer corvette and local militia. Landing on August 4, Liniers and his men rushed across the marshes to Buenos Aires. The city was recovered after fierce street fighting that ended with the storming of the cathedral, which had been fortified by the British. British General William Carr Beresford capitulated and offered his sword; true to Liniers's vow, British flags (those of the Highlanders regiment and Green St. Helena) were transferred to the church of the convent of the Dominicans, where they are still held.

When a second larger British invasion with 11,000 men was imminent, the Real Audiencia of Buenos Aires confirmed Liniers as commander-in-chief, and appointed him as interim viceroy.

The British forced entered into the city and found a strong resistance, and many battalions were defeated, while others tried to resist at strategic points. Whitelocke suggested a truce, which was rejected by Liniers, who also attacked the British ships within cannon range. After suffering 311 killed, 679 wounded and 1,808 captured or missing Whitelocke's defeat was complete, and Liniers demanded that all British forces be removed from the territories of Viceroyalty, including the Banda Oriental, in no more than 2 months, as well as an exchange of prisoners. Whitelocke accepted the conditions and surrendered.There was a large number of celebrations after the victory against the British. Liniers was officially appointed as viceroy in May 1808, and awarded the title of "Count of Buenos Aires".

When the May Revolution took place in 1810, Liniers decided to come out of his retirement and organized a monarchist uprising in Córdoba. Jacques de Liniers was defeated, captured, and executed without trial.

Painting: Reconquest of Buenos Aires by Charles Fouqueray, Museo Histórico Nacional, Buenos Aires.