In an Apparently Unpublished Letter, Napoleon Writes from Madrid to Reincorporate the Survivors from His First Great Land Defeat and Humiliation: the Battle of Bailen and the Surrender of Nearly 20,000 Men

A letter never before offered for sale, acquired from the direct US-based descendants of the recipient; it does not appear in the published works of Napoleon or online at the Fondation Napoleon

 

Napoleon’s letters mentioning the surrender at Bailen are great rarities, and we have not seen one having been sold publicly

The Battle of Bailén was fought in 1808 between the Spanish Army of Andalusia, led by General Francisco Javier Castaños and the Imperial French Army’s II corps d’observation de la Gironde under General Pierre Dupont de l’Étang. This battle was the first open-field defeat of a Napoleonic army. The heaviest fighting took place near Bailén (sometimes anglicized Baylen), a village by the Guadalquivir River in the Jaén province of southern Spain.

The defeat was total. Dupont surrendered all his forces, those who were not killed, instead of fighting his way out. Napoleon considered it a great treachery, the biggest blow to his ego to date. Apart from the blow to French prestige, Bailén threw the French invasion forces—faltering after their failure to secure Gerona, Zaragoza, Valencia, Barcelona, and Santander, and with the country rapidly arming and mobilizing against them—into panic and disarray. With the sudden loss of 20,000 troops, Napoleon’s military machine abruptly fell apart and had to be put back together.

The fate of the prisoners was tragic in most cases. Dupont had surrendered with the understanding that his men would be allowed back to France. But his Spanish opponents, once the surrender occurred, did not honor the agreement, and instead most of the 20,000 or so captured were sent west and ended on vessels, the vast majority eventually dying. A few, among them Dupont, were sent back to France, to Rochefort, and from there made their way back to the front lines to be incorporated into the ranks.

General Mouton, the Count of Lobau, was a prominent general and later Marshall of the Empire for Napoleon. Mouton means “lamb” in French, the source of Napoleon’s now famous statement on Mouton: “My lamb is a lion.” Napoleon valued Mouton to the extent that for his great Russia campaign he made him senior aide to camp. In 1806 Mouton was a Brigade General. He would remain in Napoleon’s service until the end of the Empire, during which time he showed himself to be forthright, direct (“he’s no fawner”, Napoleon is noted to have said) but also disciplined, loyal, meticulous and highly organized. He was at Austerlitz with Napoleon and was charged with the preparation of the campaigns in Spain (1808), Russia (1812), Germany (1813) and Belgium (1815). Napoleon also wrote “Mouton is the best colonel to have ever commanded a French regiment.”

Letter signed, Chamartin (Madrid), December 19, 1808, to General Mouton. “There are at Retiro 4 depots of isolated men, one from the 1st corps, one from 4th, one from the 6th and another of isolated French prisoners of Dupont’s corps which is returning. You will conduct a review and report back to me with their state. There is also a clothing store at Retiro. You will find attached here an account of its status. Go to visit it and acquaint me of the use we could make of the 2300 habits, 2300 vests, 3000 culottes and the 800 pants located there. You will bring to me tomorrow at 10 o’clock in the morning the state of the depots and the state of the stores, along with that of the men we could clothes in the four depots.”

Never before offered for sale, acquired from the direct descendants of the recipient now residing in the United States. It does not appear in the published works of Napoleon or online at the Fondation Napoleon.