Felipe Augusto de Saint Marcq y D'OstrelOman (1902: p. 160.) refers to him as Saint-March. (1762–1831) was a Belgian-born military officer in the service of the

Spanish Crown , coatofarms = File:Coat_of_Arms_of_Spanish_Monarch.svg , coatofarms_article = Coat of arms of the King of Spain , image = Felipe_VI_in_2020_(cropped).jpg , incumbent = Felipe VI , incumbentsince = 19 Ju ...

. He served in the

Peninsular War The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain ...

, commanding the Spanish forces during the Battle of Valencia.

Early career

Saint-Marcq entered the Walloon Guards Regiment as a cadet in 1776, rising to the rank of captain in 1795. He fought in 1781 in the

Great Siege of Gibraltar The Great Siege of Gibraltar was an unsuccessful attempt by Spain and France to capture Gibraltar from the British during the War of the American Revolution. It was the largest battle in the war by number of combatants. The American war had end ...

and in 1793 in the

War of the Pyrenees The War of the Pyrenees, also known as War of Roussillon or War of the Convention, was the Pyrenean front of the First Coalition's war against the First French Republic. It pitted Revolutionary France against the kingdoms of Spain and Portuga ...

against the

French Convention The National Convention (french: link=no, Convention nationale) was the parliament of the Kingdom of France for one day and the French First Republic for the rest of its existence during the French Revolution, following the two-year National ...

, at the end of which he was promoted to brigadier. He also participated in the invasion of Portugal in 1801.. Isabel Sánchez, José Luis
"Felipe Augusto de Saint Marcq y D'Ostrel".

Real Academia de la Historia The Real Academia de la Historia (RAH, 'Royal Academy of History') is a Spanish institution in Madrid that studies history "ancient and modern, political, civil, ecclesiastical, military, scientific, of letters and arts, that is to say, the diff ...

. Retrieved 18 May 2023.

Peninsular War

When the war broke out in 1808, he was able to escape from

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

when it was occupied by the invading French Army. He made his way to

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

where the local ''junta'' promoted him to field marshal. Following the victories of Marshal

Bon-Adrien Jeannot de Moncey Bon-Adrien Jeannot de Moncey (or Jannot de Moncey), 1st Duke of Conegliano (31 July 1754 – 20 April 1842) was a French military officer and a prominent commander in the French Revolutionary Wars and later a Marshal of the Empire during the Napo ...

's troops,Oman (1902: p. 126.) points out that there was not a single veteran unit among Moncey's troops:

Moncey's force was ..eight battalions of conscripts formed in 'provisional regiments' and two 'provisional regiments' of dragoons, plus a Westphalian battalion, and two Spanish corps, who deserted ''en masse'' when they were informed that they were to march against Valencia in company with the marshal's French troops. He had not one single company or squadron of men belonging to the old imperial army.

at minor actions and combats in the region, including the rout of General Pedro Adorno's 3,000 men at the

Cabrillas Cabrillas is a village and municipality in the province of Salamanca, western Spain, part of the autonomous community of Castile-Leon. It is located from the city of Salamanca and as of 2016 has a population of 398 people. The municipality cover ...

defile (near

Siete Aguas Siete Aguas is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of Hoya de Buñol in the Valencian Community, Spain. Expulsion of Muslims On November 25, 1525 Charles I of Spain issued an edict ordering the expulsions or conversions of remaining Muslims in t ...

, Valencia), on 24 June 1808, Saint-Marcq was charged with bringing together the routed troops and raising more recruits to defend Valencia. With a force of some four thousand recruits, which he was able to add to Conde de Cervellon's 7,000 or 8,000 regular troops, Oman, Charles (1902)
''A History of the Peninsular War'', Vol. I, pp. 107, 126, 160.
''Project Gutenberg''. Retrieved 18 May 2023. and Brigadier José Caro Sureda's 2,000-strong column of the newly raised Regiment of Cazadores de Valencia,. Martín-Lanuza, Alberto
"José Caro Sureda".

. Retrieved 18 May 2023. he was able to help repel Moncey's two successive attacks on the city.While Isabel puts the figure at 11,000 French troops, Oman (1902: p. 126.) puts Moncey's force at 8,000. At the other extreme, Vicente Martínez Colomer, writing in 1810 and cited by Gómez (1868: p. 166.), puts the figure at 8,000 Spanish forces, of whom 1,000 were veteran regular troops versus 12,000 experienced French infantry troops plus 1,800 horse. Saint-Marcq later participated in the lifting of the

first siege of Zaragoza The first siege of Zaragoza (also called ''Saragossa'') was a bloody struggle in the Peninsular War (1807–1814). A French army under General Lefebvre-Desnouettes and subsequently commanded by General Jean-Antoine Verdier besieged, repea ...

where he came to the aid of José de Palafox y Melzi against the forces of French General Verdier. Saint-Marcq remained under the orders of Palafox at Zaragoza during the defense of the city, for which he was promoted to lieutenant general. When the city eventually surrendered to the French on 20 February 1809, he was taken prisoner and sent to Nancy where he would remain until the end of the war in 1814. When

Ferdinand VII of Spain , house = Bourbon-Anjou , father = Charles IV of Spain , mother = Maria Luisa of Parma , birth_date = 14 October 1784 , birth_place = El Escorial, Spain , death_date = , death_place = Madrid, Spain , burial_plac ...

returned to the throne, Saint-Marcq returned to Spain. He was appointed to Captain General of Galicia, Valencia y Aragón, posts he held until the start of the Trienio Liberal, when he was banished, in 1822, to Valencia. With the 1823 French invasion and the subsequent restoration of King Ferdinand, Saint-Marcq was appointed Captain General of Valencia,

Murcia Murcia (, , ) is a city in south-eastern Spain, the capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia, and the seventh largest city in the country. It has a population of 460,349 inhabitants in 2021 (about one ...

and of

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and an, Aragón ; ca, Aragó ) is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to sou ...

between 1824 and 1830.

Death

Saint-Marcq died during a cholera epidemic in Madrid in 1831.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint-Marcq, Felipe Augusto 1762 births 1831 deaths Spanish generals Spanish commanders of the Napoleonic Wars Military leaders of the French Revolutionary Wars Captain Generals of Galicia