Battle of San Lorenzo de la Muga | |||||||
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Part of the War of the Pyrenees | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Republican France |
Spain Portugal |
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Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Jacques Dugommier Pierre Augereau |
Luis de la Union John Forbes |
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Strength | |||||||
10,000 | 20,000 | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
800 | 1,400 |
The Battle of San Lorenzo de la Muga (Catalan: Sant Llorenç de la Muga) was fought on 13 August 1794 between an attacking Spanish–Portuguese army led by the Conde de la Unión and a French army commanded by Jacques François Dugommier. The local French defenders headed by Pierre Augereau and Dominique Pérignon repulsed the allies. The Spanish garrison of Fort de Bellegarde surrendered a month later.
In 1793 the Spanish army defeated the ill-trained French armies where the Franco-Spanish border touches the Mediterranean Sea. The Siege of Bellegarde resulted in the surrender of the fort to the Spanish army on 24 June. The Spanish army won the Battle of Truillas and several other actions, and seized the port of Collioure in December. In January 1794, the Army of the Eastern Pyrenees received a new commander in General of Division Jacques François Dugommier. Fresh from his triumph at the Siege of Toulon, the new leader reorganized the army. Dugommier set up supply depots, established hospitals, and improved local roads. By the time the French assumed the offensive in April 1794, their army numbered 28,000 regular soldiers, 20,000 garrison troops, and 9,000 hastily trained volunteers.
Dugommier organized the infantry divisions of Generals of Division Pérignon, Augereau, and Pierre François Sauret, backed by a cavalry reserve under MG André de La Barre. The French defeated their adversaries at the Battle of Boulou on 1 May. Immediately after their victory, they pushed the Allied army south of the Pyrenees and invested both Collioure and the Fort de Bellegarde. Collioure fell on 29 May, but Bellegarde proved to be much more difficult to capture. In a combat at La Junquera on 7 June, Pérignon repulsed a Spanish attempt to relieve Bellegarde, though La Barre was killed while leading his troopers.