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Francisco Gómez de Terán y Negrete

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In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Gómez de Terán and the second or maternal family name is Negrete.
Francisco Gómez de Terán y Negrete
Born13 April 1760
Madrid, Spain
Died9 May 1816(1816-05-09) (aged 56)
Madrid, Spain
Battles / wars

Francisco de Paula Gómez de Terán y Negrete, 4th Marquis of Portazgo, also written as Portago,[note 1] (1760–1816) was a Spanish military commander.

Early career

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As a cadet, he saw action during the Great Siege of Gibraltar.[1]

Peninsular War

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Main article: Peninsular War

At the start of the war, the Junta de Galicia promoted him to field marshal.[1]

With Blake's Army of Galicia he fought at Rioseco (July 1808), his 4th Division[2] numbered some 5,800 troops, almost half of whom were raw recruits.[3]

The following September, Blake's Army of the Left moved on Bilbao, where Portazgo's 4th Division routed General Monthion's small garrison on 20 September 1808,[4] the 4th Division stayed in the city for just under a week, withdrawing to the hills twenty miles away as Marshal Ney approached with two divisions.[3] He again occupied the city, 11–24 October after having driven out General Merlin's division,[3] before withdrawing again to fight at Zornoza.[1]

In March 1809, now commanding the 3rd Division of Cuesta's Army of Extremadura, Portazgo fought at Mesas de Ibor[1] and at Medellín,[4] at the latter, with only three battalions, the remaining three having been left behind to garrison Badajoz.[5]

At Talavera (July 1809), again forming part of Cuesta's Army of Extremadura, four battalions,[note 2] of the six that made up his 3rd Division, stampeded at the start of the battle.[5]

In October 1809, he was appointed second-in-command of Blake's Army of Catalonia. Following Blake's resignation,[6] he took interim command of that army from mid-November to January 1810, when he resigned his command due to bad health.[1]

Notes

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  1. ^ Most sources, including Oman, refer to the title as Portago. However, his biography at Real Academia de la Historia (Martín-Lanuza) uses Portazgo, as does the Spanish historian José Muñoz Maldonado (Muñoz Maldonado).
  2. ^ According to Oman (1903), "Two of these four battalions were troops who had never been in action before: the other two had been badly cut up at Medellín, and brought up to strength by the incorporation of a great mass of recruits".

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e (in Spanish) Martín-Lanuza Martínez, Alberto. "Francisco de Paula Gómez de Terán y Negrete". Diccionario Biográfico electrónico. Real Academia de la Historia. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
  2. ^ (in Spanish). Muñoz Maldonado, José (1833). Historia política y militar de la guerra de la independencia de España contra Napoleon Bonaparte desde 1808 á 1814, Volume 1, p. 341. Google Books. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
  3. ^ a b c Oman, Charles (1902). A History of the Peninsular War, Vol. I, pp. 383, 404, Footnotes 136, 397. Project Gutenberg. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
  4. ^ a b Napier (1844). History of the War in the Peninsula, Vol. 1, pp. 91. 178. Google Books. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
  5. ^ a b Oman, Charles (1903). A History of the Peninsular War, Vol. II, p. 159, 513–514, Footnote 180. Project Gutenberg. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
  6. ^ Oman, Charles (1908). A History of the Peninsular War, Vol. III, p. 289. Project Gutenberg. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
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