The Battle of Barrosa was part of an unsuccessful manoeuvre by an Anglo-Iberian force to break the French siege of Cádiz during the Peninsular War. During the battle, a single British division defeated two French divisions and captured a regimental eagle.
Battle of Chiclana, 5 March 1811, Louis-François Lejeune
Portrait of Thomas Graham from the frontispiece of his biography by Alexander M. Delavoye published in 1880
General Dilkes's brigade advances (from Illustrated Battles of the Nineteenth Century, 1895)
The siege of Cádiz was a siege of the large Spanish naval base of Cádiz by a French army from 5 February 1810 to 24 August 1812 during the Peninsular War. Following the occupation of Seville, Cádiz became the Spanish seat of power, and was targeted by 70,000 French troops under the command of the Marshals Claude Victor and Nicolas Jean-de-Dieu Soult for one of the most important sieges of the war. Defending the city were 2,000 Spanish troops who, as the siege progressed, received aid from 10,000 Spanish reinforcements as well as British and Portuguese troops.
Jean-de-Dieu Soult
Portrait of General Manuel la Peña, commander of the Coalition forces that attempted to relieve the siege
Portrait of Thomas Graham.
Plan of Cádiz in 1812