The Earl of Peterborough commenced active operations against Barcelona by an attack on the strong fortress of Montjuich, situated on the opposite part of the town, at which the disembarkation took place, the troops having landed near the river Bassoz, about three miles east of Barcelona, on the 23rd and 24th of August. On the 28th, King Charles went on shore, when the inhabitants of the neighbouring towns and villages flocked to the camp, and many took arms to act as guerilla-bands and miquelets. A difference of opinion on the part of the Dutch General occasioned some delay, but it was ultimately determined to attack the fortress of Montjuich by storm.
The storming party, consisting of four hundred grenadiers, with a support of six hundred musketeers, commanded by the Earl of Peterborough and the Prince of Hesse-Darmstadt, commenced their march about ten o’clock on the night of Sunday the 13th of September round the mountains, and were followed by another detachment, and a party of dragoons. After traversing many miles of rugged mountain scenery, by different tracks, the storming party appeared about break of day at the foot of the mountain. Colonel Southwell of the sixth foot, which was then acting as Marines, was ordered to head the attack, and he succeeded in driving the enemy from the outworks into the castle. Upon this success the Prince of Hesse, advancing with great eagerness through all the fire, was shot with a musket-ball in the thigh, and upon being carried to an adjacent cottage, expired: this accident somewhat damped the spirits of the soldiers;—at the same time a large reinforcement was seen advancing from the town to aid the garrison in the Castle, and the troops received orders from some inferior officer to retire. The Earl of Peterborough rushed to the spot, countermanded the order, seized the half-pike out of Lord Charlemont’s hand, and rallied and led back the soldiers to the posts they had so nobly won. The Spaniards, who were advancing from the town, turned back, and the outworks of the Fortress of Montjuich were thus gained; batteries were constructed, and the inner works were assailed with cannon-balls, bombs, and grenades. On the 17th of September the Fort surrendered, and thus facilitated the siege of the City of Barcelona, which was prosecuted with vigour. The Admirals even relinquished for a time their natural element, and acted on shore as General Officers;—they came daily from their ships with a body of men formed into companies, having captains and lieutenants of their own. Cannon and mortars were dragged up steep precipices by the men; and a breach being declared practicable, a body of soldiers prepared to attack the town: further effusion of blood was spared, however, by the surrender of the garrison, which capitulated on the 9th of October.
The capture of Barcelona gave additional reputation to the arms of the allies, and this splendid achievement was regarded with astonishment throughout Europe. It was accompanied by the submission of nearly all Catalonia; and Boyer, in his history of these wars, observes, “all the generals, admirals, officers, private soldiers, and seamen, engaged in this memorable expedition, deserved each their share of the honour.”
1706
King Charles and his counsellors, instead of exerting themselves to provide for the security of the towns which had come into their possession, and collecting the means for future conquests, spent their time and money in balls and public diversions. The breaches in Barcelona, and the fortress of Montjuich, were left unrepaired, and the garrison unprovided for a siege. Meanwhile King Philip was obtaining reinforcements from the favourers of his cause in Portugal, Italy, Provence, Flanders, and the Rhine, and he soon appeared at the head of above twenty thousand men to recapture the provinces he had lost. A powerful French and Spanish force approached Barcelona by land; a French fleet appeared before the town, and the garrison, being weak in numbers, regiments were hurried from other places, one English regiment travelling one hundred and twenty miles on mules, in two days, to take part in the defence of Barcelona. The siege was commenced in the beginning of April, 1706, when the soldiers repaired the breaches, and entered upon a resolute and desperate defence. A severe conflict took place on the 21st of April at Montjuich, in which Lord Donegal, of the thirty-fifth regiment, lost his life, and several prisoners were taken by the enemy; but when the garrison was nearly exhausted, its numbers decreased by deaths, wounds, sickness, and other causes, to about a thousand effective men, and a practicable breach was ready for the enemy to attack the place by storm, the English and Dutch fleet arrived with five regiments of foot; the French fleet hurried from before the town; and the reinforcements were landed.
The French, who had prepared to storm the place on the 10th of May, relaxed in their efforts, and raised the siege on the following day, making a precipitate retreat.
The important city of Barcelona being thus relieved, the fleet sailed on the 12th of May, and landed the forces of every description on the coast of Valencia. This was preparatory to an attack on Alicant. The capture of Carthagena was in the interim effected, and a garrison of six hundred marines under Major Hedges was established for its defence.
The fleet arrived off Alicant on the 26th of June, when the Governor-General Mahoni, was summoned to surrender: a refusal being made by the garrison, consisting of one thousand soldiers, and many inhabitants of the town who had volunteered in its defence, the bombardment of the city was resolved upon.
Brigadier Richard Gorges, who succeeded the Earl of Donegal, as colonel of the thirty-fifth regiment, then serving as marines, moved from Elcho on the 21st of July to within a mile of Alicant, and all the marines of the fleet, with eight hundred seamen, were landed on that day, and on the following morning:—the bombardment commenced on the evening of the 22nd. A detachment of the navy, under Admiral Sir George Byng, rendered very essential service by dismounting many of the enemy’s guns on the coast. On the 24th of July the marines arrived from Carthagena, and were immediately landed; after four days the troops had gained possession of the suburbs, and all the boats were manned, and armed, in order to attack the town. On the 29th of July the ships having made a practicable breach on the Round Tower, at the west end of the place, and another at the middle of the curtain, the soldiers advanced to storm them. General Mahoni retired into the Castle, and was again summoned by Brigadier Gorges, and was at length obliged to surrender his charge on the 25th of August, after a most gallant resistance, and a heavy loss.
The fleet proceeded to Iviça, where it arrived on the 9th of September: the governor immediately saluted, and tendered submission to King Charles III. It was next resolved to attack Majorca, which surrendered on the 14th of September: a garrison of one captain, one lieutenant, and one hundred marines, was placed in this island.