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12 June in military history: Combat of Cabezón, 1808

Military history · 12 June · Peninsular WarFull calendar

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Map marking the battle site: Cabezón de Pisuerga, northeast of Valladolid, Castile, Spain
Location: Cabezón de Pisuerga, northeast of Valladolid, Castile, Spain. Location map: © Echoes of Battle (data: Natural Earth, public domain)
Quick answer

On 12 June 1808, early in the Spanish rising against Napoleon, French troops under Generals Lasalle and Merle routed the raw levies of Gregorio de la Cuesta at Cabezón, where the road from Burgos to Valladolid crosses the river Pisuerga. Cuesta had drawn up his men with the bridge at their backs, and the French entered Valladolid the same day.

Old Castile rises

At the end of May 1808 the people of Valladolid rose against the French and called on the captain general, Gregorio de la Cuesta, to lead them. Cuesta held back until the crowd set up a gallows outside his house; then he gave in and put himself at the head of the rising.1

Marshal Bessières, commanding the French in the north, sent columns against the risings. A division under General Merle, already on its way to Santander, was called back to deal with Cuesta. General Lasalle marched from Burgos on Valladolid with four battalions and cavalry.2

On the evening of 6 June Lasalle reached Torquemada, forced the bridge the peasants had barred with carts, and sacked and burned the town. He went on to Palencia, where the bishop pleaded for the town and the French disarmed the inhabitants.3

The bridge at their backs

Merle joined Lasalle at Dueñas; the sources date the junction between 10 and 12 June. The united force numbered about 9,000 men.4

Cuesta had about 5,000 raw volunteers and peasants, a few hundred regular cavalry and four guns. The guns had been saved from the artillery college at Segovia by its cadets, and among the infantry a battalion of students from the University of Valladolid stood out.5

Cabezón lies where the main road from Burgos crosses the Pisuerga, about two leagues from Valladolid. Instead of destroying or barring the bridge and holding the far bank, Cuesta took most of his men across and drew them up with the bridge behind them. Oman calls his dispositions "simply astounding", and Foy writes that with such a disposition the best troops would have been beaten.6

The morning of 12 June

Early on the morning of 12 June the French set out. Lasalle came down the main road while Merle swung toward Cigales to cut Cuesta's road to León. Six French guns fired along the length of the bridge.7

At the first discharges the Spanish horses became unmanageable. The retreat was ordered, and Cuesta and Francisco de Eguía, who held the post of mayor general, went back over the bridge at the head of the cavalry. The students held their ground for a time, then broke as well.8

French horsemen rode through the fleeing crowd to the bridge and took the guns. The French accounts disagree on whether Lasalle's cavalry or Merle's infantry struck the decisive blow, but the Spanish line broke almost at the first shock.9

Many fugitives drowned in the Pisuerga.10

Valladolid opens its gates

Cuesta fell back to Medina de Rioseco. The French sacked the village of Cabezón.11

In the afternoon the bishop and members of the chancery of Valladolid came out to submit, and the French entered the city the same day.12

The French disarmed the inhabitants. Merle's division then marched north against Santander, while Lasalle stayed behind to hold the plains of Old Castile.13

Counting the cost

Foy and Oman give the French loss as twelve killed and thirty wounded.14

Several hundred Spaniards were cut down and many more drowned. Estimates of the Spanish loss run from 400 or 500 killed and wounded to about a thousand killed.15

Foy judged that "La position de Cabezon attaquée de front, et défendue par de bonnes troupes, eût été inexpugnable" ("The position of Cabezon, attacked from the front and defended by good troops, would have been impregnable", our translation).16

Cuesta was not finished. He regrouped at Benavente and, joined by General Blake's army of Galicia, was beaten again at Medina de Rioseco in July. See the Battle of Medina de Rioseco.17

Also on 12 June

1940: the 51st (Highland) Division, cut off from the rest of the BEF and so not among the troops at Dunkirk, was surrounded at St Valery-en-Caux in Normandy and surrendered. Fog on the night of 11 June kept the rescue ships from the shore. The French IX Corps, under which the division served, ceased fire at eight on the morning of 12 June, and later that morning the division's commander, General Victor Fortune, ordered his own men to cease fire. Only from the beach at Veules-les-Roses, east of St Valery, were some British and French troops taken off.18

Frequently asked questions

Who won the combat of Cabezón?

The French. Generals Lasalle and Merle routed Cuesta's levies at the bridge of Cabezón on 12 June 1808, and the French entered Valladolid the same day.

Why did the Spanish lose so badly at Cabezón?

Cuesta took most of his men across the Pisuerga and drew them up with the bridge behind them instead of holding the far bank, which Oman and Foy both condemn. Toreno and Arteche add that the Spanish horses became unmanageable at the first discharges.

Where is Cabezón?

Where the main road from Burgos to Valladolid crosses the river Pisuerga, about two leagues from Valladolid.

How many men were lost at Cabezón?

Foy and Oman give the French loss as twelve killed and thirty wounded. Estimates of the Spanish loss run from 400 or 500 killed and wounded to about a thousand killed, and many fugitives drowned in the Pisuerga.

What else happened on 12 June?

In 1940 the 51st (Highland) Division, surrounded at St Valery-en-Caux in Normandy after fog kept the rescue ships away, surrendered.

Notes

A number in the text points to a note; each note names the works that paragraph draws on, listed in full under Sources.

  1. Charles Oman, “A History of the Peninsular War, vol. I”; Conde de Toreno, “Historia del levantamiento, guerra y revolución de España, tomo I”; W. F. P. Napier, “History of the War in the Peninsula and in the South of France, from the Year 1807 to the Year 1814, vol. I”. ↩
  2. Charles Oman, “A History of the Peninsular War, vol. I”; W. F. P. Napier, “History of the War in the Peninsula and in the South of France, from the Year 1807 to the Year 1814, vol. I”; Conde de Toreno, “Historia del levantamiento, guerra y revolución de España, tomo I”; General Foy, “Histoire de la guerre de la Péninsule sous Napoléon, tome III”. ↩
  3. Conde de Toreno, “Historia del levantamiento, guerra y revolución de España, tomo I”; General Foy, “Histoire de la guerre de la Péninsule sous Napoléon, tome III”; José Gómez de Arteche y Moro, “Guerra de la Independencia. Historia militar de España de 1808 á 1814, tomo II”. ↩
  4. Charles Oman, “A History of the Peninsular War, vol. I”; W. F. P. Napier, “History of the War in the Peninsula and in the South of France, from the Year 1807 to the Year 1814, vol. I”; General Foy, “Histoire de la guerre de la Péninsule sous Napoléon, tome III”; José Gómez de Arteche y Moro, “Guerra de la Independencia. Historia militar de España de 1808 á 1814, tomo II”. ↩
  5. Charles Oman, “A History of the Peninsular War, vol. I”; Conde de Toreno, “Historia del levantamiento, guerra y revolución de España, tomo I”; General Foy, “Histoire de la guerre de la Péninsule sous Napoléon, tome III”; José Gómez de Arteche y Moro, “Guerra de la Independencia. Historia militar de España de 1808 á 1814, tomo II”. ↩
  6. Charles Oman, “A History of the Peninsular War, vol. I”; Conde de Toreno, “Historia del levantamiento, guerra y revolución de España, tomo I”; General Foy, “Histoire de la guerre de la Péninsule sous Napoléon, tome III”; José Gómez de Arteche y Moro, “Guerra de la Independencia. Historia militar de España de 1808 á 1814, tomo II”. ↩
  7. Conde de Toreno, “Historia del levantamiento, guerra y revolución de España, tomo I”; General Foy, “Histoire de la guerre de la Péninsule sous Napoléon, tome III”; José Gómez de Arteche y Moro, “Guerra de la Independencia. Historia militar de España de 1808 á 1814, tomo II”. ↩
  8. Conde de Toreno, “Historia del levantamiento, guerra y revolución de España, tomo I”; José Gómez de Arteche y Moro, “Guerra de la Independencia. Historia militar de España de 1808 á 1814, tomo II”. ↩
  9. Charles Oman, “A History of the Peninsular War, vol. I”; General Foy, “Histoire de la guerre de la Péninsule sous Napoléon, tome III”; José Gómez de Arteche y Moro, “Guerra de la Independencia. Historia militar de España de 1808 á 1814, tomo II”; Une société de militaires et de gens de lettres, “Victoires, conquêtes, désastres, revers et guerres civiles des Français, de 1792 à 1815, tome XVIII”. ↩
  10. Charles Oman, “A History of the Peninsular War, vol. I”; Conde de Toreno, “Historia del levantamiento, guerra y revolución de España, tomo I”; General Foy, “Histoire de la guerre de la Péninsule sous Napoléon, tome III”; José Gómez de Arteche y Moro, “Guerra de la Independencia. Historia militar de España de 1808 á 1814, tomo II”. ↩
  11. Charles Oman, “A History of the Peninsular War, vol. I”; Conde de Toreno, “Historia del levantamiento, guerra y revolución de España, tomo I”; José Gómez de Arteche y Moro, “Guerra de la Independencia. Historia militar de España de 1808 á 1814, tomo II”. ↩
  12. Charles Oman, “A History of the Peninsular War, vol. I”; Conde de Toreno, “Historia del levantamiento, guerra y revolución de España, tomo I”; General Foy, “Histoire de la guerre de la Péninsule sous Napoléon, tome III”. ↩
  13. Conde de Toreno, “Historia del levantamiento, guerra y revolución de España, tomo I”; General Foy, “Histoire de la guerre de la Péninsule sous Napoléon, tome III”; Une société de militaires et de gens de lettres, “Victoires, conquêtes, désastres, revers et guerres civiles des Français, de 1792 à 1815, tome XVIII”; Charles Oman, “A History of the Peninsular War, vol. I”; W. F. P. Napier, “History of the War in the Peninsula and in the South of France, from the Year 1807 to the Year 1814, vol. I”. ↩
  14. Charles Oman, “A History of the Peninsular War, vol. I”; General Foy, “Histoire de la guerre de la Péninsule sous Napoléon, tome III”. ↩
  15. Charles Oman, “A History of the Peninsular War, vol. I”; General Foy, “Histoire de la guerre de la Péninsule sous Napoléon, tome III”; José Gómez de Arteche y Moro, “Guerra de la Independencia. Historia militar de España de 1808 á 1814, tomo II”; Une société de militaires et de gens de lettres, “Victoires, conquêtes, désastres, revers et guerres civiles des Français, de 1792 à 1815, tome XVIII”. ↩
  16. General Foy, “Histoire de la guerre de la Péninsule sous Napoléon, tome III”. ↩
  17. W. F. P. Napier, “History of the War in the Peninsula and in the South of France, from the Year 1807 to the Year 1814, vol. I”; José Gómez de Arteche y Moro, “Guerra de la Independencia. Historia militar de España de 1808 á 1814, tomo II”; Charles Oman, “A History of the Peninsular War, vol. I”. ↩
  18. National Army Museum, “Defeat in the West, 1940”; Kenny Grant, “The 51st Highland Division St Valery-en-Caux June 1940”; L. F. Ellis, “The War in France and Flanders 1939-1940, chapter XX”. ↩

Sources

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