The Battle of Saguntum
25th October 1811

Notes

1	There seems to be considerable confusion about the name of this place and the battle that took place there. The ancient fortress of Saguntum had borne that name since Hannibal had attacked it at the opening of the Third Punic War, but the Spanish renamed it San Fernando de Sagunto shortly before the campaign. To add to the confusion, the settlement that lay below the fortress was no longer the city of Saguntum but had become the town of Murviedro. When you add in the effects of writers' native languages the battle is been named variously as Saguntum, Sagunto, Sagonte, Merviedo and who knows what other variations. I have stuck to "Saguntum" throughout.
2	A quarter of Suchet's "French" army was actually made up Italians, while a further fifteen percent were Poles or Neapolitans.

There seems to be considerable confusion about the name of this place and the battle that took place there. The ancient fortress of Saguntum had borne that name since Hannibal had attacked it at the opening of the Third Punic War, but the Spanish renamed it San Fernando de Sagunto shortly before the campaign. To add to the confusion, the settlement that lay below the fortress was no longer the city of Saguntum but had become the town of Murviedro.

When you add in the effects of writers' native languages the battle is been named variously as Saguntum, Sagunto, Sagonte, Merviedo and who knows what other variations. I have stuck to "Saguntum" throughout.

A quarter of Suchet's "French" army was actually made up Italians, while a further fifteen percent were Poles or Neapolitans.

Eyewitness Accounts

Accounts of this action were written by:

and appear here reproduced in full.

Sources

ARCÓN-DOMINGUEZ, J. L. (2004), Sagunto, La Batalla por Valencia, Museo Histórico de Valencia, Valencia
DE GONNEVILLE, A. (1996), Recollections of Colonel de Gonneville, Worley Publications, Felling
DEVOE, T., NAFZIGER, G. & WESOLOWSKI, M. (1991), Poles and Saxons of the Napoleonic Wars, Emperor's Press, Chicago
GATES, D. (1986), The Spanish Ulcer, Guild Publishing, London
NAPIER, W., History of the War in the Peninsular and in the South of France, Frederick Warne & Co, London
OMAN, C. (1996), A History of the Peninsular War - Volume 4: December 1810 to December 1811, Greenhill Books, London
PÉPÉ, G. (1999), Memoirs of General Pépé, Worley Publications, Felling
SIX, G. (1934), Dictionnaire Biographique des Generaux & Amiraux Francais, Saffroy, Paris

The Battle of Saguntum 25th October 1811

Notes

Eyewitness Accounts

Sources

The Battle of Saguntum
25th October 1811