Spanish American wars of independence order of battle: Spanish expeditionary forces

In attempts to retain or re-assert control over its colonies in America, the Spanish Empire deployed several expeditionary forces during and after the Spanish American wars of independence. The largest of these forces, known as "the expeditionary army of Costa Firme",^[1] and consisting of over 10,000 troops under General Morillo, undertook the Spanish reconquest of New Granada (1815–16).^[2] Forces were also sent to New Spain between 1812 and 1817.^[3] Later, after Mexican independence in 1821, a Spanish garrison was sent from Cuba to occupy Spain's last Mexican outpost, the fortress of San Juan de Ulúa; this force remained there until surrendering in 1825.^[4] Finally, a force under Isidro Barradas Valdés attempted to regain control of Mexico in 1829.^[5]

Viceroyalty of New Spain

Counter insurgency (1812-1821)

Period

year

Number of men

Units and Commanders (units changed names in 1820)

European Expeditions
1812 - 1817

year 1812

total men 3857

Unit	soldiers	Officers
Battalion Asturias (Mallorca)	270 men	-
Battalion Lobera (Infante Don Carlos)	847 men	Francisco Bucelli, teniente coronel
Regiment América (Murcia)	817 men, one Battalion	Juan José Olazábal
Battalion Castilla (Voluntarios de Castilla)	649 men	Francisco Hevia
Battalion Zamora	910 men	Rafael Bracho
Battalion Fernando VII -expediciónario-	364 men	Ángel Díaz del Castro, teniente coronel

year 1813

men total 1895

Unit	soldiers	officers
Battalion Extremadura	995 men	coronel Benito Armiñan
Battalion Saboya (Reina)	900 men	coronel Melchor Álvarez

Year 1815

men total 1749

Brigadier Fernando Miyares y Mancebo, commander of expedition

unit	soldiers	officers
Regiment Órdenes Militares	1126 men, 2 Battalions	Coronel Francisco LLamas
Battalion Voluntarios de Navarra (Barcelona)	623 men	Coronel José Ruiz

Year 1817

men total 1547

Mariscal de Campo Pascual Liñan, commander of expedition.

unit	soldiers	officers
Regiment Zaragoza	2 Battalions	brigadier Domingo Luaces

Defense of San Juan de Ulúa (1821-1825)

Date

Expeditions

Units

San Juan de Ulúa

Bandera de la flota naval y de las fortalezas españolas

August 7, 1821

Cuerpo expedicionario de la Isla de Cuba

Brigadier Juan Rodríguez de la Torre, comandante en jefe

Unit	Soldiers
1º Company mixed form Regiments Habana and Luisiana, and Battalions Málaga, Cataluña and Tarragona.	105 men
2º Company de Battalion Pardos de la Habana.	75 men
3º Company de Battalion Morenos de la Habana.	75 men
4º Company de voluntarios.	105 men

August 1821

1º reinforcement

299 men

October 1822

2º reinforcement

1º Commander of fortress Brigadier Francisco Lemaur.
834 soldiers y 44 officers, y 100 artillery men Battalion Cataluña and Málaga.

December 24, 1822

1º relief

354 soldiers y 8 officers Battalion Málaga
75 soldiers Battalion Tarragona

March 1823

2º relief

numbers similar to 1º relief from battalions Cataluña, Tarragona y Málaga.

August 1823

3º relief

200 men.

July 1824

4º relief

227 men from Battalions Cataluña and Málaga.

January 1825

5º relief (last)

300 men battalions Cataluña and Tarragona, plus 116 men from Battalion Pardos y Morenos de Cuba.
2º Commander of fortress, brigadier José Coppinger.

Expedition of Isidro Barradas (1829)

Division of Vanguard (1829)

Total 3,000 men

Commander

Brigadier General Isidro Barradas Valdés

Units

Regiment de la Corona (3 Battalions )
- I Battalion Rey Fernando
- II Battalion Reina Amalia
- III Battalion Real Borbón
Squadron of cavalry (dismounted) (incomplete)
Company of artillery (short)

Expeditionary Army of Costa Firme

(Venezuela and New Granada)

Viceroyalty of Perú

(Perú, Chile and Upper Peru)

References

^ The Americas. Academy of American Franciscan History. 1961. p. 173.
^ Lynch, Spanish American Revolutions, 209. Rodríguez, Independence of Spanish America, 122. Kinsbruner, Independence in Spanish America, 57.
^ Small contingents from Spain had been arriving in the Americas since 1810. On August 25, 1810, a group of Spanish Marines arrived in Veracruz from Cádiz on the frigate, Nuestra señora de Atocha under the command of Rosendo Porlier and accompanying Viceroy Francisco Javier Venegas. These were the first Spaniards to have come from Europe in support of royalists. Frieyro de Lara. Guerra ejército y sociedad en el nacimiento de la España contemporánea. (2009, Universidad de Granada) p. 660.
^ Jaime E. Rodríguez O. (2005). The Divine Charter: Constitutionalism and Liberalism in Nineteenth-century Mexico. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 205–6. ISBN 978-0-7425-3710-1.
^ Ruiz Gordejuela Urquijo, Jesús (2006). La expulsión de los españoles de México y su destino incierto, 1821-1836. Universidad de Sevilla. ISBN 978-84-00-08467-7.

[1] The Americas. Academy of American Franciscan History. 1961. p. 173.

[2] Lynch, Spanish American Revolutions, 209. Rodríguez, Independence of Spanish America, 122. Kinsbruner, Independence in Spanish America, 57.

[3] Small contingents from Spain had been arriving in the Americas since 1810. On August 25, 1810, a group of Spanish Marines arrived in Veracruz from Cádiz on the frigate, Nuestra señora de Atocha under the command of Rosendo Porlier and accompanying Viceroy Francisco Javier Venegas. These were the first Spaniards to have come from Europe in support of royalists. Frieyro de Lara. Guerra ejército y sociedad en el nacimiento de la España contemporánea. (2009, Universidad de Granada) p. 660.

[O.2005-4] Jaime E. Rodríguez O. (2005). The Divine Charter: Constitutionalism and Liberalism in Nineteenth-century Mexico. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 205–6. ISBN 978-0-7425-3710-1.

[5] Ruiz Gordejuela Urquijo, Jesús (2006). La expulsión de los españoles de México y su destino incierto, 1821-1836. Universidad de Sevilla. ISBN 978-84-00-08467-7.

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