- Battle of Cabezón
Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Battle of Cabezón
partof=thePeninsular War
caption=
date=June 12 ,1808
place=Cabezón de Pisuerga , nearValladolid ,Spain
result=Decisive French victory
combatant1=flagicon|Spain|1785Spain
combatant2=flagicon|France French Empire
commander1=Gregorio de la Cuesta
commander2=Jean-Baptiste Bessières
Antoine Lasalle
strength1=300 regular cavalry
4,700 militia
4 guns [Gates, p.71]
strength2=9,000 regulars
casualties1=Unknown
casualties2=50 dead [Gates, p. 73]The Battle of Cabezón was an engagement early in the
Peninsular War onJune 12 ,1808 between a small Spanish militia force (grandiloquently styled the "Army of Castile") and a detachment of Marshal Bessières' FrenchArmy Corps under General Lasalle.The battle took place when General Cuesta's small army, scraped together almost from scratch to defend
Old Castile , deployed itself along the Cabezón bridge to bar the road toBurgos against oncoming French divisions. Rather than dig in on the opposite bank of thePisuerga river, Cuesta, swept along by the enthusiasm of his men, rushed his troops across the bridge against almost double his number, with predictable results: Lasalle's veterancavalry trampled Cuesta's raw recruits with ease and marched on to Valladolid.Notes
References
*Gates, David. "The Spanish Ulcer: A History of the Peninsular War." Da Capo Press 2001. ISBN 0-306-81083-2
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