He was attacked at two o'clock on the 10th November by Marshal Victor, whose soldiers carried the wood at the point of the bayonet, forced his centre, turned his left flank, and he had the mortification to see San Romano and Don Luiz de Riquelmé, his two best brigadiers, fall mortally wounded. His Spaniards were hurled in masses upon each other, and utterly routed. Romano's corps were all taken to a man; the rest fled through Castile, Leon, Galicia, and Asturia, carrying everywhere the tidings of their defeat and the terror of the French name; and poor Blake, jaded, weary, exasperated, and disheartened, reached Reynosa on the 12th, with only seven thousand men—his old division—without artillery, without arms, without spirit, and without hope!
Such was the battle of Espinosa. Blake, in this terrible condition, was attacked by the vanguard of Soult, and after losing two thousand men, retired through the vale of Caburniego, and reached Arnedo in the heart of the Asturian Sierras.
Spain was now nearly prostrate at the feet of France!
In 1809, Blake was appointed Captain-General of the Coronilla, or Lesser Crown; a title given to the union of Valencia, Aragon, and Catalonia. In the latter he succeeded General Romano. Gathering his forces in April, restless and indefatigable, he advanced to Alcanitz, from whence the French retired to Samper and Ixar. On this Marshal Suchet advanced against him with the third corps, and on the 23rd of May they fought the battle of Alcanitz.
Blake was skilfully posted in front of the town with twelve thousand men. The bridge of Guadaloupe was in his rear; a pool of water covered his left, but his right was without protection; his centre occupied a hill. With only eight thousand foot and seven hundred horse Suchet attacked him, but without success. Rendered desperate by reverses, the Spaniards stood firm, and fought with their ancient rather than their modern bravery. Suchet was wounded and compelled to retreat: this retreat became a panic, and in great confusion the French reached Samper in the night. This small success was a cause for rejoicing all over Spain. "The victory at Alcanitz," was in every man's mouth, and the Supreme Junta gave Blake an estate, and added the ancient kingdom of Murcia to his command. He now hoped to recover the far-famed Zaragossa, and turning all his thoughts to Aragon, neglected the defence of Catalonia.
After the late victory his little army was augmented by more than twenty thousand men, and full of new hope and enthusiasm he marched with these to Ixar and Samper.
Suchet hovered near Zaragossa, but left a column under General Faber at Villa Muel, near the Sierra of Daroca, to watch Blake, who, hoping to cut that officer off, marched through Carinena, so famed for its vineyards, and sent General Arisayo with a detachment to Bottorio, with orders to capture a convoy of French provisions on the Huerba. This movement was successful, and lack of food forced Faber to retreat towards Plascencia.
The advanced guards exchanged shots on the 14th of June at Bottorio, and Blake, full of confidence, made a vigorous attempt to surround the French by pushing a column to Maria on the plains of Zaragossa; on the 15th he formed his troops in order of battle, but slowly and unskilfully, as they were raw soldiers, who had but recently relinquished the vinedresser's knife for the musket and sword. Occupying both banks of the Huerba, towards 2 p.m. he extended his left flank to overlap the French right; but Suchet, who was unexpectedly joined by Faber's brigade and another from Tudela, paralysed the movement by a furious attack of cavalry and voltigeurs. Blake's left fell back at the very moment that he was triumphantly leading on his centre, and he became involved in a desperate sword-in-hand conflict, in which the leading columns of Suchet were repulsed. He would have achieved more but for a violent storm which arose at that moment, and so darkened the air that the adverse lines could scarcely see each other, and for a time the action ceased. Blake's position was ill chosen (according to the memoirs of Suchet); he was surrounded by deep ravines, and had only one line of retreat by the bridge of Maria, which crossed the Huerba near his right wing.
Marshal Suchet observed this error, and on the storm lulling, selected some cavalry and two regiments of infantry, and forming them, all drenched as they were by rain, in solid column, by a vigorous effort he broke through Blake's brigade of horse, seized the bridge, and cut off his retreat!