When this memorable siege commenced, the relative situations of the contending parties were as follows:—Eighteen thousand French held the Ampurdan, and invested the place. Of this number about four thousand were in Figueras, Rosas, and the smaller posts of communication; and it is remarkable that Verdier asserted that the first-named place, notwithstanding its great importance, was destitute of a garrison, when he arrived there from France. A fact consistent with Lord Collingwood’s description of the Catalan warfare, but irreconcilable with the enterprise and vigour attributed to them by others.
St. Cyr, the distribution of whose forces has been already noticed, covered the siege with twelve thousand men; and Duhesme, having about ten thousand, including sick, continued to hold Barcelona. Forty thousand French were, therefore, disposed Imperial Muster Roll. MSS.between that city and Figueras; while, on the Spanish side, there was no preparation. Blake was still in Aragon; Conpigny, with six thousand of the worst troops, was at Taragona; the Milans watched Duhesme; Wimphen, with a few thousand, held the country about the Upper Llobregat. Juan Claros and Rovira kept the mountains on the side of Olot and Ripol; and, in the higher Catalonia, small bands of Miguelettes were dispersed under different chiefs. The Somatenes, however, continuing their own system of warfare, not only disregarded the generals, as in the time of Reding, but fell upon and robbed the regular troops, whenever a favourable opportunity occurred.
The Spanish privateers, dislodged from St. Filieu, now resorted to Palamos-bay, and the English fleet, under Lord Collingwood, watched incessantly to prevent any French squadron, or even single vessels, from carrying provisions by the coast. But from Gerona, the governor did not fail to call loudly on the generals, and even on the Supreme Central Junta, for succours; yet his cry was disregarded; and when the siege commenced, his garrison did not exceed three thousand regular troops: his magazines and hospitals were but scantily provided, and he had no money. Alvarez Mariano was however, of a lofty spirit, great fortitude, and in no manner daunted.
See Vol. I. p. 78.
The works of Gerona, already described, were little changed since the first siege; but there, as in Zaragoza, by a mixture of superstition, patriotism, and military regulations, the moral as well as physical force of the city had been called forth. There, likewise, a sickness, common at a particular season of the year, was looked for to thin the ranks of the besiegers, and there also women were enrolled, under the title of the Company of Sta. Barbara, to carry off the wounded, and to wait upon the hospitals, and at every breath of air, says St. Cyr, their ribbons were seen to float amidst the bayonets of the soldiers! To evince his own resolution, the governor forbad the mention of a capitulation under pain of death; but severe punishments were only denounced, not inflicted upon faint-hearted men. Alvarez, master of his actions, and capable of commanding without phrenzy, had recourse to no barbarous methods of enforcing authority; obstinate his defence was, and full of suffering to the besieged, yet free from the stain of cruelty, and rich in honour.
On the 4th of June the siege was begun, and, on the 12th, a mortar-battery, from the heights of Casen Rocca, on the left of the Ter, and two breaching-batteries, established against the outworks of Fort Monjouic, being ready to play, the town was summoned in form. The answer was an intimation that henceforth all flags of truce would be fired upon; the only proceeding indicative of the barbarian in the conduct of Alvarez.
The 13th the small suburb of Pedreto was taken possession of by the French, and early on the morning of the 14th, the batteries opened against Monjouic, while the town was bombarded from the Casen Rocca.
The 17th the besieged drove the enemy from Pedreto, but were finally repulsed with the loss of above a hundred men.
The 19th the stone towers of St. Narcis and St. Louis, forming the outworks of Monjouic, being assaulted, the besieged, panic-stricken, abandoned them and the tower of St. Daniel also. The French immediately erected breaching-batteries, four hundred yards from the northern bastion of Monjouic. Tempestuous weather retarded their works, but they made a practicable opening by the 4th of July, and with a strange temerity resolved to give the assault, although the flank fire of the works was not silenced, nor the glacis crowned, nor the covered way or counterscarp injured, and that a half moon, in a perfect state, covered the approaches to the breach. The latter was proved by the engineers, in a false attack, on the night of the 4th, and the resolution to assault was then adopted; yet the storming-force drawn from the several quarters of investment was only assembled in the trenches on the night of the 7th; and during these four days, the batteries ceasing to play, the Spaniards retrenched, and barricadoed the opening.