Military History | Peninsular War
Joaquín Blake Wargaming Project for the Peninsular War

Joaquín Blake
y Joyes

Posted 24 Jun 2008

I wanted to build some Peninsular War Armies for Shako based on a historical Order of Battle. And to my way of thinking you can't do the Peninsular justice without a Spanish army.

I was thinking of doing an Albuera Project but hit upon a grander scheme of following one or two Generals through the Peninsular. For the Spanish Joaquín Blake y Joyes seems a good choice (Joaquín is sometimes called Joachim Blake in English). He was a strict, brave and able general with good organisational ability and a knowledge of his own limitations, but was rather militarily unlucky.

Blake's History

This is mostly based on Wikipedia: Joaquin Blake.

Revolutionary Wars

In his youth, he saw action as a lieutenant of the grenadiers in the American Revolutionary War, taking part in the abortive siege of Gibraltar and the 1783 reconquest of Minorca.

At the outbreak of war with France in 1793, Blake, a captain, took part in the invasion of Rousillon under General Ricardos. He was wounded at San-Lorenzo-de-la-Muga in 1794.

Peninsular War

14 Jul 1808: Battle of Medina del Rio Seco

31 Oct 1808: Battle of Pan Corbo / Zornoza

5 Nov 1808: Battle of Valmaceda

10-11 Nov 1808: Battle of Espinosa de los Monteros

23 May 1809: Battle of Alcaniz

24 May-11 Dec 1809: Third siege of Gerona

14 Jun 1809: Blakes vanguard clashed with Suchet’s

15 Jun 1809: Battle of Maria

18 Jun 1809: Rout of Belchite

4 Nov 1810: Baza

6-12 May 1811: First Siege of Badajoz

16 May 1811: Battle of Albuera

25 Oct 1811: Battle of Saguntum

1-8 Jan 1812: Siege of Valencia

Battle of Medina de Rio Seco (14 Jul 1808)

I've shown the most likely regiments to have been present based on Partridge and Oliver (1998), how these correspond to the Fields of Glory Orbats (FOG), and my own suggestions (Steven).

Teniente-General Don Gregorio Garcia de la Ceusta (Capt-Gen of Castilla) was Commander in Chief and led the Army of Castile. Teniente-General Joachín Blake (Capt-Gen of Galicia) led the Galician 1st and 4th Divisions.

Division	Unit	Type	Men	FOG ⁽¹⁾	Steven
Brigada Vanguardia (Brig. Conde Maceda)	2o Rto Ligero Cataluña	Light Inf	685	1 LI	1 LI
Ligero de Gerona	Light Inf	575	1 REG	1 LI
Ligero de Barbastro (1/2 Bn)	Light Inf	530	- ⁽²⁾	1 LI
Rto de Buenos Aires	Colonial Inf	350+	1 REG	1 REG
1a Galician Division (Mariscal de Campo Felipe Jado-Cagigal)	Rto del Rey (2o & 3o Bns)	Line Inf	900	2 REG	2 REG
Rto de Mallorca (1 Bn) - with Grenadiers detached	Line Inf	580	1 REG	1 REG
Rto de Hibernia (2o & 3o Bns)	Foreign Inf	830	2 REG	2 REG
Milicia de Mondoñedo	Militia	600	1 SR	1 SR
Rto de Zaragoza (1o & 2o Bns) - with Grenadiers detached	Line Inf	1,040	2 SR	2 REG
Granaderos Provinciales de Galicia	Militia	790	1 SR	1 SR
Sharp shooters from other units	Line Inf		1 SK	1 SK
Rto de la Reina (2 Escn), Rto de Montesa (1 Escn), and/or Dragones de la Reina (1/2 Escn)	Line Cav/ Dragoons	550	1 SRc	1 SRc
4a Galician Division (Mariscal de Campo El Marqués de Portago)	Rto del Principe (2 Bns)	Line Inf	1,510	2 REG	2 REG
Rto de Toledo (2 Bns)	Line Inf	1,360	2 SR	2 REG
Rto de Aragón (1 Bn) - with Grenadiers detached	Line Inf	450	1 SR	1 REG
Milicia de Santiago (1 Bn)	Militia	800	1 SR	1 SR
Milicia de Lugo (1 Bn)	Militia	500	1 SR	1 SR
Granaderos Unidades (2 Bns) - the combined Grenadier companies of Zaragoza, Mallorca, Aragon, and de la Corona ⁽⁴⁾	Line Grenadiers	400	1 REG	1 El ⁽³⁾
Sharp shooters from other units	Line Inf		1 SK	1 SK
Attached to any of Vanguardia, 1a or 4a Divisions	4o Rto de Artilleria (12 guns), Artilleria de Marina (6 guns)	Art	18 guns	2 FtG	2 FtG
Ejército de Castilla (Cuesta)	Rto Ligero Vol. de Navarra (3 Bns)	Light Inf	783	1 SR	1 LI
Rto Voluntarios de Leon (3 Bn)	New Inf	3,150	3 SR	3 SR
Rto Voluntarios Literarios de Valladolid (1 Bn)	New Inf	500	1 SR	1 REG ⁽⁵⁾
Rto Escolares de Benavente (1 Bn)	New Inf	800	1 SR	1 SR
Rto de Covadonga (2 Bn)	New Inf	1,500	2 REG	2 SR
Sharp shooters from other units	New Inf		1 SK	1 SK
Artilleria a Caballo	Art	4 guns	-	1 HsG

Notes:

(1) Totals from FOG:

1 General
3 Division Commanders
12 Regular Battalions
1 Light Battalion
15 Second Rate Battalions
3 Skirmishers
1 Second Rate Regiment
2 Foot Batteries

(2) I assume in FOG the men of this regiment has been merged into the other rather weak regiments in the Vanguard.

(3) Given the Grenadiers successfully assaulted a massed artillery battery I would think they had some morale advantage over the Fusiliers. After all, that is why they were brigaded together, to give the army a strike force.

(4) It would seem only the Grenadiers of de la Corona were present at the battle.

(5) My justification for the REG status is that the cadre of the Rto Escolares de Benavente were the only troops to fight heroically at Cabezón. Otherwise they'd be SR like the other volunteers and militia.

This table compares the order of battle for a Shako Pick Up Battle to the order of battle described for Medina de Rio Seco. I've included the +20% extra forces (REG battalions) that the Pick Up Battle rules give to an attacking force in a Pick Up battle. The Pick Up battle compares quite closely to my orbat for Medina de Rio Seco.

Shako Type	FOG's Medina de Rio Seco	Pick Up Battle	Steven's Medina de Rio Seco	Historical Units from Steven's Orbat
EL	-	1	1	Granaderos Unidades (2 Bns) - the combined Grenadier companies of Zaragoza, Mallorca, Aragon, and de la Corona
LI	1	5	4	2o Rto Ligero Cataluña Ligero de Gerona Ligero de Barbastro (1/2 Bn) Rto Ligero Vol. de Navarra (3 Bns)
REG	12	17 (11 + 6 for attacking)	14	Rto del Rey (2o & 3o Bns) Rto de Zaragoza (1o & 2o Bns) - with Grenadiers detached Rto de Aragón (1 Bn) - with Grenadiers detached Rto de Mallorca (1 Bn) - with Grenadiers detached Rto del Principe (2 Bns) Rto de Toledo (2 Bns) Rto de Hibernia (2o & 3o Bns) Rto de Buenos Aires Rto Voluntarios Literarios de Valladolid (1 Bn)
SR	15	7	10	Granaderos Provinciales de Galicia Milicia de Mondoñedo Milicia de Santiago (1 Bn) Milicia de Lugo (1 Bn) Rto de Covadonga (2 Bn) Rto Voluntarios de Leon (3 Bn) Rto Escolares de Benavente (1 Bn)
SK	3	2	3	Sharp shooters from other units
SRc	1	6	1	Rto de la Reina (2 Escn), Rto de Montesa (1 Escn), and/or Dragones de la Reina (1/2 Escn)
HyG	-	1	-
FtG	2	3 (2 + 1 for attacking)	2	4o Rto de Artilleria (12 guns), Artilleria de Marina (6 guns)
HsG	-	1	1	Artilleria a Caballo

Painting Guide

Rearranging this for painting purposes

Type	Uniform	Unit	Shako Units
Light Inf	Green Hussar and Helmet	2o Rto Ligero Cataluña	1 LI
Light Inf	Blue Jacket and Bicorn	Ligero de Gerona	1 LI
Light Inf		Ligero de Barbastro (1/2 Bn)	1 LI
Light Inf		Rto Ligero Vol. de Navarra (3 Bns)	1 LI
Line Inf		Rto del Rey (2o & 3o Bns)
Line Inf		Rto de Mallorca (1 Bn) - with Grenadiers detached
Line Inf		Rto de Zaragoza (1o & 2o Bns) - with Grenadiers detached
Line Inf		Sharp shooters from other units	2 Sk
Line Inf		Rto del Principe (2 Bns)
Line Inf		Rto de Toledo (2 Bns)
Line Inf		Rto de Aragón (1 Bn) - with Grenadiers detached
Line Grenadiers		Granaderos Unidades (2 Bns) - the combined Grenadier companies of Zaragoza, Mallorca, Aragon, and de la Corona ⁽⁴⁾
Militia		Milicia de Mondoñedo
Militia		Granaderos Provinciales de Galicia
Militia		Milicia de Santiago (1 Bn)
Militia		Milicia de Lugo (1 Bn)
Foreign Inf		Rto de Hibernia (2o & 3o Bns)
Colonial Inf		Rto de Buenos Aires	1 REG
New Inf		Rto Voluntarios de Leon (3 Bn)
New Inf		Rto Voluntarios Literarios de Valladolid (1 Bn)
New Inf		Rto Escolares de Benavente (1 Bn)
New Inf		Rto de Covadonga (2 Bn)
New Inf		Sharp shooters from other units	1 Sk
Line Cav/ Dragoons		Rto de la Reina (2 Escn), Rto de Montesa (1 Escn), and/or Dragones de la Reina (1/2 Escn)
Art		4o Rto de Artilleria (12 guns), Artilleria de Marina (6 guns)
Art		Artilleria a Caballo