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Manuel Lapeña

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This article is about the Spanish military officer. For the Mexican politician, see Manuel de la Peña y Peña. For the Spanish footballer, see Manuel Olivares Lapeña.
In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Lapeña and the second or maternal family name is Ruiz del Sotillo.
Manuel Lapeña
Portrait of Lapeña (1799) by Goya
(Hispanic Society of America Museum, New York)
Born11 April 1762
Valtierra, Navarre
Died14 October 1820(1820-10-14) (aged 58)
Madrid
Allegiance Spain
Battles / wars

Manuel de Lapeña y Ruiz del Sotillo[note 1] (1762–1820) was a Spanish military commander.

Having a reputation for incompetence—he had the nickname Doña Manuela (Lady Manuela).[1]— Lapeña has been harshly criticised by most British historians (Napier, Oman, among others) for his conduct at the battles of Tudela and Barrosa (Chiclana),[note 2] considering him both pusilanimous and lacking initiative, opinions shared by 19th century Spanish historians such as the Count of Toreno and Gómez Arteche.[2] Although Lapeña was an ambitious man, he had a talent for diplomacy.[3]

The full-length portrait of Lapeña, painted in 1799 by Goya, was commissioned by the Duchess of Osuna for the palace at her recreational property, La Alameda, Madrid.[4]

Military career

He was promoted to brigadier in 1793,[2] and marched with his commanding officer to Army of Navarra, where La peña took up command of the seven battalions of volunteers that had been raised for the War of the Pyrenees. Shortly before the end of the war, he was promoted to field marshal (1795).[2]

In October 1802, Lapeña was promoted to lieutenant general in the same promotion as other notable Spanish military commanders of the Spanish armies during the Peninsular War, including the Duke of the Infantado, Juan Pignatelli, Juan Carrafa, Francisco Castaños, Francisco Taranco, Francisco Eguía, and Arturo O'Neill.[5]

Peninsular War

Main article: Peninsular War

Battle of Bailén (16–19 July 1808)

Main article: Battle of Bailén

Lapeña was given command of the 4th Division (Reserve) of Castaños's 33,000–34,000-strong field army.[6][note 3]

Lapeña's Cavalry unit was the Pavia Regiment commanded by Colonel Pedro de Alcántara Téllez Girón, a very well-equipped unit with 440 splendid horses.[7][note 4] The 4th Division also had a 3,000-strong flying brigade, under Cruz-Murgeon, who was given the task harassing Dupont's northern flank and cutting French communications with Bailén and La Carolina.[6]

Following their victory at Bailén, Lapeña's division accompanied Castaños to Madrid, arriving there on 23 August.[6]

Battle of Tudela (23 November 1808)

Main article: Battle of Tudela

Castaños's Army of the Centre came under attack from the French III Corps commanded by Marshal Lannes at Tudela.[8] The attacking French forces sought to take advantage of a gap between the Spanish army's wings. Seeking to close the gap, Castaños sent orders to Lapeña at Cascante to move to fill the void. However, Lapeña's division, numbering 8,000–9,000 infantry and 1,500 horse, simply stayed for four hours facing the French cavalry; just two French Digeon's and Colbert's brigades of dragoons, some three thousand horse.[6]

At the time Lapeña, along with General Grimarest, could field some 20,000[citation needed] men against the 9,000 French troops in that area of the field of battle. Rather than march to support the rest of the Spanish army, Lapeña limited his activities to small-scale skirmishes with the few French troops close by. Having lost 200 men in these skirmishes, and witnessing the defeat of the rest of the Army of the Centre, Lapeña finally retreated towards Borja, bringing the battle to a close.[9]

Army of the Centre

After Tudela, Castaños was ordered to Aranjuez to take up the presidency of the Junta Central's military advisory committee. As a result, Lapeña assumed overall command of the Spanish Army of the Centre which had reformed at Guadalajara.[10] With this command, Lapeña attempted to intervene against Napoleon's assault on Madrid; this attempt was, however, intercepted by Marshal Ney's I Corps and Lapeña was forced to withdraw to Cuenca.[11] Once there, he was replaced as the commander of the Army of the Centre by the Duque de Infantado.[10]

Cádiz

In December 1810, Lapeña succeeded Blake as the Captain General of Andalusia.[12] However, as he had been a supporter of the [[Cortes Generales#Cádiz Cortes (1808–14) the new Regency removed him from this position and ordered him to Cádiz, along with his troops.[13] Lapeña then became the senior Spanish officer at Cádiz, and took command of the Spanish forces on the Isla de León.[3]

Battle of Barrosa

Main article: Battle of Barrosa

In January 1811, a reduction of the French forces besieging Cádiz led to the British and Spanish allies garrisoning the city to launch an expedition in an attempt to raise the siege. Despite having authority, from the British government, to refuse to take part in a joint expedition of which he was not given command, Sir Thomas Graham—the British commander—agreed to cede command of the force to Lapeña.[14]

Sailing from Cádiz between 21–24 February 1811, the Anglo-Spanish expedition regrouped at Tarifa on 27 February 1811 and marched towards the besieging French force's rear at Chiclana. A series of night marches, instigated by Lapeña, however, resulted in a change of plan and the allied army ended up marching back towards Cádiz. The French commander, Marshal Victor, marched to meet the allied force with 10,000 men from his besieging army. On 5 March, Lapeña's vanguard division met a French division straddling the main road to Cádiz and drove them off the road.[15]

Graham's rearguard division, meanwhile, was attacked by two of Victor's divisions. Graham split his force into two brigades; one to face each of the approaching French divisions. In the ensuing battle, Graham's forces beat off the French attacks despite Lapeña entrenching his larger force on the isthmus to Cádiz and refusing to aid his British allies.[15] Lapeña further refused to pursue the retreating French troops, allowing them to resume the siege on Cádiz, a siege that was not lifted until 24 August 1812.

Lapeña's actions in this engagement led to his court-martial, where he was acquitted but relieved of command.[16]

Notes

  1. ^ Some authors, such as Oman (1902), write the surname La Peña.
  2. ^ "... the cowardly behaviour of La Peña in 1811, when he refused to aid Graham at the bloody little battle of Barossa". (Oman, 1902: p. 101.)
  3. ^ The commanders of the other three divisions were Generals Reding, Coupigny, and Felix Jones. (Oman, 1902: p. 177.)
  4. ^ Oman (1902: p. 619.) puts this number at 541 in the order of battle.

References

  1. ^ Fortescue 1917, p. 62
  2. ^ a b c (in Spanish). Martín-Lanuza, Alberto. "Manuel de Lapeña y Ruiz del Sotillo". Diccionario Biográfico electrónico. Real Academia de la Historia. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  3. ^ a b Oman 1911, p. 95.
  4. ^ (in Spanish). "Manuel Lapeña Rodríguez y Ruiz de Sotillo". Fundación Goya en Aragón. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  5. ^ (in Spanish). Gaceta de Barcelona, no. 1750. 6 October 1802. Hemeroteca Digital. Biblioteca Nacional de España. Retrieved 30 April 2023.
  6. ^ a b c d Oman, Charles (1902). A History of the Peninsular War, Vol. I, pp. 177, 179, 346–347, 442–443, 619. Project Gutenberg. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  7. ^ (in Spanish). Gutiérrez Núñez, Francisco Javier. "Pedro de Alcántara Téllez Girón y Alfonso-Pimentel". Diccionario Biográfico electrónico (DB~e). Real Academia de la Historia. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  8. ^ Gates 1986, p. 101.
  9. ^ Gates 1986, p. 103.
  10. ^ a b Esdaile 2002, p. 137.
  11. ^ Gates 1986, p. 105.
  12. ^ Napier 1842, p. 271.
  13. ^ Napier 1840, p. 419.
  14. ^ Oman 1911, pp. 95–96.
  15. ^ a b Gates 1986, pp. 249–252.
  16. ^ Paget 1990, pp. 124–125.

Bibliography

  • Esdaile, Charles (2002), The Peninsular War, Penguin Books (published 2003), ISBN 0-14-027370-0;
  • Gates, David (1986), The Spanish Ulcer: A History of the Peninsular War, Pimlico (published 2002), ISBN 0-7126-9730-6;
  • Oman, Charles (1911), A History of the Peninsular War: Volume IV, December 1810 to December 1811, Greenhill Books (published 2004), ISBN 1-85367-618-7;
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