An Unattainable Stronghold (Book 8 of the Peninsular War Saga) The Historical Cast
To celebrate the publication of An Unattainable Stronghold I thought I would provide a brief introduction to some of the main historical characters who feature in the book. Some of these will be very familiar, not only to my readers but to anybody with a general knowledge of the period. Others will be less well known. The men included here have been chosen not because of their importance to history but because of their significance in this particular book. It should also be noted that to avoid too many historical spoilers, I’ve only included their career up to the beginning of this novel. What happened to them after that is a matter of historical record, so you can always look it up…
Lord Wellington
Wellington was born in 1769 in Ireland into an aristocratic Anglo-Irish family; the Earl and Countess of Mornington. He lived and was educated between Ireland and London and attended Eton from 1781 to 1784. Arthur was not the most promising of the Mornington children and was described by his mother as ‘my awkward son Arthur’. In 1786 however, he enrolled in the French Royal Academy of Equitation in Angers, where he made good progress. In 1787, Wellesley took up a commission as ensign in the 73rd regiment. Initially he served as ADC to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and for the next few years his duties were mainly social. He fell in love with Kitty Pakenham, the young daughter of Lord Longford and proposed in 1793 but was turned down by her family due to his poor prospects. Wellesley seems to have been devastated by this rejection and made the decision to take his military career more seriously. By 1794 he was a lieutenant-colonel and joined his first real campaign in Flanders under the Duke of York. On 15th September in 1794 he had his first experience of combat at the Battle of Boxtel. The campaign ended with a disastrous withdrawal but it taught Wellesley a lot about military tactics and the problems of poor leadership and organisation. He later remarked: “At least I learned what not to do and that is always a valuable lesson.” Wellesley’s next posting to India as a full colonel. He spent five months in Calcutta then was sent briefly to the Philippines. On his return to India he found that his brother Lord Mornington had been appointed as Governor-General of India. It was at this time that the family changed the spelling of their name from the ancient Wesley to Wellesley. Wellesley fought in several campaigns during his time in India. The Fourth Anglo-Mysore War broke out in 1798. There were signs that he was still learning his trade during this period and not everything went according to plan. He was a quick learner however and even at this early stage we can see signs of his talent for careful logistical planning. There was some muttering among the officers about Wellesley being given commands due to his brother’s position but it became clear that Mornington’s confidence was not misplaced. In 1799 Wellesley was present at the storming of Seringapatam and remained as Governor of the region. Despite repeated bouts of ill-health he went on to successfully defeat an insurgency led by Dhoondiah Waugh in 1800. He was promoted to major-general in 1802 and was sent to command an army in the Second Anglo-Maratha War, which led to his celebrated triumph at the Battle of Assaye in 1803. It is at this stage in his career that Wellesley first encounters the young Paul van Daan, fictional hero of the Peninsular War Saga. India had made Wellesley’s reputation along with a respectable fortune. He returned to England at his own request in 1805 and was knighted for his service, becoming Sir Arthur Wellesley. Pushing for further employment, he served briefly with the unsuccessful Anglo-Russian expedition to north Germany in 1805. There was a period of leave when he was elected to the British parliament, finally married Kitty Pakenham (whom he had not seen for ten years) and was appointed as Chief Secretary for Ireland. He was a conscientious administrator but it was clear that he was keen to get back to his army career. The opportunity came in 1807 when Britain decided to send a joint expedition to Denmark in an attempt to prevent the Danish navy falling into the hands of Bonaparte. The expedition was a success with Wellesley commanding the only land victory of the campaign at Køge and Wellesley was one of the negotiators for the terms of surrender. Back in England he was promoted to lieutenant-general in 1808 and accepted a command to go to South America. This was switched to Portugal and Sir Arthur Wellesley arrived in the Peninsula as an experienced general with a growing reputation. He achieved early success, defeating the French at Roliça and Vimeiro but was immediately superseded in command. General Dalrymple negotiated the controversial Convention of Sintra, which stipulated that the Royal Navy transport the French army out of Lisbon with all their loot. Wellesley, Dalrymple and General Burrard were recalled to Britain to face a Court of Inquiry. It might have ended Wellesley’s promising career but as the most junior officer he was cleared. Bonaparte, meanwhile had entered Spain to crush the Spanish revolt and the replacement commander of the British forces in the Peninsula, Sir John Moore, was killed at the Battle of Corunna in January 1809. Wellesley made a convincing argument for his return to Portugal and was given the command in 1809. For the next five years Wellesley, soon to be raised to the peerage as Lord Wellington, made the hills and plains of the Iberian Peninsular his own. Progress was not linear and seldom very dramatic but it was steady and despite the occasional setback and a few unpleasant retreats, Wellington held his nerve. He spent time and energy creating a secure base in Portugal, with the Lines of Torres Vedras behind which his army could retreat at need. With Lisbon secure he began his dogged advance towards the Spanish border. He took Oporto in May 1809 and marched on to unite with the Spanish army to fight at Talavera in July. Problems with supplies and relations with his Spanish Allies led to a retreat back to Portugal but the new Viscount had given notice of his intentions and there was more to come. In 1810 he won at Bussaco then waited patiently behind his lines for the French under Massena to run out of food. When they did, Wellington made a cautious pursuit and fought him again at Fuentes D’Onoro in 1811. At the beginning of 1812 he finally captured the two key fortresses to Spain, first Ciudad Rodrigo and then Badajoz. He was created an Earl and then a Marquess during that year and achieved a brilliant victory at Salamanca which liberated the Spanish capital of Madrid. There was a setback at the end of 1812 when Wellington was unable to take the fortress of Burgos and was forced into a difficult and unpleasant retreat back to his headquarters at Freineda on the Portuguese border. He had given the French due warning of his intentions however and in May 1813 he was on the offensive again, leading his army back across Spain in a series of well-planned outflanking marches until he caught up with King Joseph Bonaparte and defeated him in the Battle of Vitoria. From there he began the pursuit into the Pyrenees towards the French border. This is where we find Lord Wellington at the beginning of book eight of the Peninsular War Saga. As always, far too many of the French managed to make their escape after the battle and Wellington is irritated, impatient and beset as always by both military and political difficulties. He is also really concerned about his dog.
Marshal General Jean-de-Dieu Soult, 1st Duke of Dalmatia
Marshal Soult was born in 1769. He was the son of a notary and enlisted in the French Royal army in 1785 then rose quickly through the ranks during the years of the French Revolution. He entered the army at sixteen and was promoted to sergeant after six years. A year later he became a sous-lieutenant and during the years of the war he rose steadily through the ranks. By the time he distinguished himself in the Battle of Kaiserslautern in 1793 he was a captain. He commanded his first battalion in 1794 and for the next five years he fought in Germany and continued to impress his senior officers. By 1799 he was a general of division and was sent to fight under Massena in the Army of Helvetia. It was during this period that Soult’s military reputation was really built. In 1800, Napoleon Bonaparte sent Massena to reorganise the Army of Italy. Massena asked for Soult as his deputy and gave him command of the right wing of the army. He continued to be successful until a battle in Montecreto in April when he was badly wounded and taken prisoner. He was rescued after the French victory at Marengo in June and given a command in Piedmont. By the time he returned to Paris he was high in Bonaparte’s favour and was made one of the first eighteen Marshals of the Empire in May 1804. He commanded a corps in the advance on Ulm and led the attack on the Allied centre at Austerlitz. In 1808 he was created Duke of Dalmatia by Napoleon. Soult was apparently unhappy about his title and would have preferred Duke of Austerlitz. Napoleon however had reserved that title for himself. In 1809 Soult was sent to Spain. His pursuit of the British army under Sir John Moore led to the Battle of Corunna. Moore was killed but Soult was unable to prevent the British army from escaping by sea. Soult remained in Spain for the next four years. In 1809 he invaded Portugal and took Oporto but was driven out by Sir Arthur Wellesley and had to make a difficult retreat over the mountains. He was unpopular with the Republican officers in his army due to his reputed ambitions to be King of Portugal. After the Battle of Talavera he was placed in command of all French forces in Spain and had success at Ocana and with the invasion of Andalusia. He was unable to capture Cadiz however, despite a lengthy siege which proved costly for the French. In 1811 he fought and narrowly lost the bloody battle of Albuera against Allied forces led by Sir William Beresford. In 1812 Soult was obliged to evacuate Andalusia after Wellington’s victory at Salamanca. He managed to push Wellington back from Burgos later in the year, though failed to bring him to a decisive battle despite having superior numbers. Soon after, he was recalled from Spain at the request of King Joseph Bonaparte. Soult spend a few months in command of the IV Corps and fought at Lützen but was quickly sent back to the Spanish border to reorganise the army after the defeat at Vitoria. It is there that we find him at the beginning of An Unattainable Stronghold, struggling to manage a demoralised army and knowing that Bonaparte is impatient for a Spanish victory.
General Sir Thomas Graham, 1st Baron Lynedoch
Sir Thomas Graham was born in 1748. He was educated at Oxford but almost immediately inherited his family estate on the death of his father. He spent several years completing his education on the continent then returned to Scotland to take up the management of his estates. He took his landowning duties seriously and was the model of a country gentleman. In 1774 he married Mary Cathcart, the second daughter of the ninth Lord Cathcart. Graham was a devoted husband and the couple enjoyed a peaceful life for the next eighteen years until Mary’s health began to decline. In 1792 her husband took her to the south of France on medical advice but she died on the voyage. The story goes that during the journey to take Mary’s body home for burial, a group of French soldiers insisted on opening the casket and disturbed the body. Graham had previously been something of a sympathiser with the ideas of the French revolution but this incident caused a dramatic shift in his sympathies. He struggled to come to terms with his loss and eventually, in his forty-third year, he decided to embark on a military career. Graham’s career began as a volunteer ADC to Lord Mulgrave at Toulon where he distinguished himself for his courage. He also became friendly with Captain Rowland Hill, later one of Wellington’s most trusted generals. After returning home, Graham was given the temporary rank of lieutenant-colonel and raised the first battalion of the 90th Regiment of Foot. Hill became a major in the regiment which fought in the revolutionary wars. When it was sent to Gibraltar on garrison duty however, Graham became quickly bored and asked permission to join the Austrian army as British Commissioner. He assisted the Austrians and fought bravely through the disastrous campaign of 1796. He was elected to parliament in the same year and returned to Scotland but was back with his regiment at Gibraltar in 1797 and took part in the capture of Minorca. He was then placed in charge of the siege and blockade of Malta which finally surrendered in 1800. He then travelled to Egypt but arrived too late to join the campaign. The next few years were spent travelling, carrying out his Parliamentary duties and improving his estates. He was stationed in Ireland for a while and then spent three years with his regiment in the West Indies. He did not seek re-election in 1807 but went to Sweden in 1808 as ADC to Sir John Moore and then on to Spain. He took part in the miserable retreat to Corunna and was beside Sir John Moore when he died and was buried. Graham was promoted to major-general and commanded a division in the disastrous Walcheren campaign of 1809 but was obliged to return home with Walcheren fever. He was then promoted to lieutenant-general and given command of the British and Portuguese troops in Cadiz which was at that point under siege by the French. Graham made an effort to raise the siege in 1811 and won an impressive victory at Barossa but was unable to achieve his aim because of lack of support from his Spanish allies. In 1812 Graham was appointed second-in-command to Wellington. He fought at Ciudad Rodrigo and was awarded the Order of the Bath along with Rowland Hill but was obliged to go home due to a problem with his eyes much to Wellington’s dismay. He rejoined the army in 1813 and was given command of the left wing of the army at the Battle of Vitoria. In An Unattainable Stronghold we join Sir Thomas Graham as Lord Wellington gives him the unenviable task of storming the coastal citadel of San Sebastian. His eyes are playing up again, he’s fed up with sieges but more than anything else he wishes that Lord Wellington would stop turning up at his headquarters for dinner with his entire staff and no warning whatsoever.
General Louis Emmanuel Rey
Louis Emmanuel Rey was born in 1768 and joined the French Royal Army at the age of sixteen in 1784. He was promoted to sergeant-major in 1791 and obtained a lieutenant’s commission in 1792. He then served four years in the Army of the Alps and won promotion to general of brigade in 1796. During the War of the Third Coalition Rey was given command of the Camp de Boulogne between 1805 and 1808 and was named a Baron of the Empire. He was sent to Spain in 1808 and is believed to have commanded a brigade at the Battle of Ocaña in November 1809. He fought at Baza in 1810 and then at the siege of Tarragona in 1811. In July 1813 Rey found himself on the inside of siege warfare in command of the garrison of San Sebastian. With the promise of help on the way from Marshal Soult, Rey was confident that his garrison could hold out until they were relieved. At the beginning of An Unattainable Stronghold he’s probably beginning to wish he hadn’t sounded so sure.
Sir Richard Fletcher
Richard Fletcher was born in 1768, the son of a clergyman. He enrolled as a cadet in the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich in 1782 at the age of fourteen and began his career as a second-lieutenant in the Royal Artillery in 1788 before joining the Royal Engineers in 1790. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1793 and was sent to the West Indies later that year. Fletcher took part in the successful attacks on the French colonies of Martinique, Guadeloupe and St Lucia in 1794. He was wounded at St Lucia and was transferred to Dominica as chief engineer before being sent home in 1796. In November of that year he married Elizabeth Mudge, the daughter of a doctor. The couple went on to have five children. Fletcher served as adjutant to the Royal Military Artificers in Portsmouth until the end of 1798 when he was sent to Constantinople as an advisor to the Ottoman Government. Fletcher’s ship was wrecked near the mouth of the river Elbe and Fletcher was forced to walk across two miles of ice before reaching land. After three months travelling through Austria and Ottoman territories he finally arrived in Constantinople in March 1799. He advanced into Syria alongside forcing Napoleon to give up the siege of Acre and retreat to Egypt. After his return from Syria, Fletcher took part in the preparation of the defences for the Turks in the Dardanelles. He spent some time with the Ottoman forces in Cyprus then returned to Syria in 1800, to supervise the building of fortifications at Jaffa and El Arish. He served under Sir Ralph Abercromby in at Marmaris Bay, practising beach assaults for the expected invasion of Egypt the following year. He was captured during an expedition to reconnoitre the Egyptian port of Alexandria and was held prisoner in Alexandria until its capture on 2 September 1801. Fletcher returned to England, having been promoted to captain while he was imprisoned and was later decorated by the Ottoman Empire for his services. The war broke out again the following year and Fletcher was sent back to Portsmouth where he helped improve the defences of Gosport. He was promoted to major in 1807 and took part in the Battle of Copenhagen in August that year. Soon after the start of the Peninsular War, Fletcher was sent to Portugal. He was part of the force that occupied Lisbon when the French withdrew following the Convention of Sintra then he accompanied Wellington as his chief engineer in the field. He was promoted to lieutenant-colonel in the army and then the Royal Engineers in 1809 and he fought at the Battle of Talavera for which he received a mention in dispatches. Fletcher is famous for one of the greatest military engineering feats of his era. The Lines of Torres Vedras were constructed on the narrow peninsula between the Atlantic and the Tagus and were intended to protect Lisbon and provide a line of retreat for the British to their ships should it be needed. Fletcher began work on these defences in October 1809, using local labour. He worked with natural features to construct the lines. Fortifications guarded every approach and batteries commanded the high ground. A system of signal stations and roads ensured that troops could be sent quickly to where they were needed. This was achieved with the utmost secrecy so that most people were not even aware of the lines’ existence until Wellington was obliged to retreat behind them later the following year. In July 1810 Fletcher left the fortifications to join Wellington in the field. He fought at the battle of Bussaco in September. Wellington fell back to the Lines of Torres Vedras in October 1810 and Marshal Masséna was astonished to find such extensive defences. He made an unsuccessful attack on 18 October, then retreated to Santarém until his supplies ran out the following March when he marched north never having managed to penetrate the lines. Fletcher fought with Wellington at the Battle of Sabugal, Fuentes d’Onoro, Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz where he was seriously wounded. He returned to England to recover and was made a baronet on 14 December 1812. He returned to the Peninsular in 1813 and received a further mention in dispatches for his role in the Battle of Vitoria on 21 June. Fletcher first met my fictional hero Paul van Daan, during his work on the Lines of Torres Vedras and the two men became good friends. The beginning of An Unattainable Stronghold finds him busy directing the blockade of Pamplona and the siege of San Sebastian and wondering how he can possibly be in two places at once.
General Manuel Freire
Manuel Alberto Freire de Andrade y Armijo was born in 1767, the son of a cavalry officer. He joined his father’s regiment as a minor cadet at the age of seven and became a formal cadet at the age of thirteen. Freire’s first battle was in 1793 against revolutionary French forces during the War of the Pyrenees. He was promoted several times, becoming captain in 1794 and cavalry captain in 1795. During the following peace Freire was given command of a squadron and took part in a campaign against Portugal before being assigned to training in Mallorca. When Napoleon’s forces invaded Spain, Freire joined in the resistance and in 1807 was a colonel in command of a volunteer cavalry regiment in Madrid. The following year he fought in Extremadura and was promoted to brigadier in 1809 after a campaign in La Mancha and to field marshal after the Battle of Talavera. On 10 January 1810, he was appointed commander of cavalry under Juan Carlos de Aréizaga and fought at Ocaña, a devastating defeat that cost the Spanish control of Andalusia. He later wrote a manual revising Spanish cavalry tactics. Between 1810 and 1812 he fought in Murcia, Granada, and Valencia (1810-1812), Freire became a general. When we meet him at the beginning of An Unattainable Stronghold, he is about to succeed Francisco Javier Castaños in command of the Army of Galicia, ready to stand with Wellington against the invasions of Marshal Soult. He would also really like it if the Spanish government could sort out their supply train before half his men starve to death.
General David Hendrik Chassé
David Hendrik Baron Chassé (1765-1849) .
Chassé was the son of a major in the army of the Dutch Republic. He entered the Dutch army as a ten-year-old cadet in his father’s regiment in the Dutch States Army in 1775. He was promoted to second lieutenant in 1781 and to captain in 1787 but he resigned his commission in the same year out of sympathy with the Patriots in their opposition to the autocratic regime of William V, Prince of Orange. Instead Chassé became a captain in a Patriot Free Corps, fighting against the Prussian invaders that restored William to power. He was obliged to go into exile in France, partly because of the rebellion but also reportedly because he had killed a man in a duel. In 1788 Chassé received a commission as a first-lieutenant in the royal French army. After the revolution of 1789 he fought for the revolutionary French armies, during the War of the First Coalition. By 1793 he was a captain in the Free Foreign Legion. He took part in the invasion of the Dutch Republic in 1793 and was promoted to lieutenant-colonel in the following year. Chassé now entered the service of the Batavian Republic with the rank of lieutenant-colonel as commander of the 2nd battalion Jagers. He took part in the Rhine campaign of 1796, and was with his Jagers in 1799 as part of the Franco-Batavian army that countered the Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland. In 1800 he commanded battalions in the French campaigns in northern Germany. He was mentioned in dispatches at the siege of Würzburg and was promoted to colonel in 1803 and to major-general in 1806 under the Kingdom of Holland. King Louis Bonaparte gave Chassé command of the Dutch brigade that his brother Napoleon obliged him to contribute to the French campaign in Spain in 1808. Chassé fought at Zornoza, Mesas de Ibor, Talavera, Almonacid and Ocana where he assumed command of the Division-Leval. King Louis made Chassé a baron in 1810, just a week before Napoleon annexed the Kingdom of Holland to the French Empire. Like many Dutchmen, Chassé resented this annexation and refused to accept his elevation to Baron de l’Empire in 1811. Nevertheless, he continued serving in the imperial French army. Chassé was now made a général de brigade, serving under Jean-Baptiste Drouet, Comte d’Erlon in Spain. At the beginning of An Unattainable Stronghold we find him commanding a brigade which includes the 30th légère and their scarred, grouchy commander, Colonel Gabriel Bonnet. It’s possible they have a lot in common.
Conclusion
These are just a few of the colourful historical characters making their way through the pages of An Unattainable Stronghold. I love writing about real people, trying to tease out their personalities and to imagine how they might interact with my fictional characters. The book is published on Kindle and in paperback on Amazon on 1st November 2023.
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