Francisco da Silveira Pinto da Fonseca Teixeira, 1st Count of Amarante (1 September 1763 – 27 May 1821), was a Portuguese army officer who fought in the

War of Oranges The War of the Oranges ( pt, Guerra das Laranjas; french: Guerre des Oranges; es, Guerra de las Naranjas) was a brief conflict in 1801 in which Enlightenment Spain, Spanish forces, instigated by the government of French First Republic, France ...

and other campaigns of 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 ...

, as an offshoot of the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

Biography

Francisco da Silveira was born in the town of Canelas, the son of Manuel da Silveira Pinto da Fonseca and D. Antónia Silveira.

Career

He became a cadet in the Almeida Cavalry Regiment on 25 April 1780, from which his career developed in subsequent years: he was promoted to ensign by 27 February 1790; then lieutenant in the 6th Cavalry Regiment, then called the ''Light

Regiment A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, service and/or a specialisation. In Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of front-line soldiers, recruited or conscript ...

of Chaves'', on 17 December 1792, before becoming a captain and adjunct-aide to the Field Marshall of the Province of Beira, João Brun da Silveira, on 17 December 1799. He succeeded his father as the

Majorat ''Majorat'' () is a French term for an arrangement giving the right of succession to a specific parcel of property associated with a title of nobility to a single heir, based on male primogeniture. A majorat (fideicommis) would be inherited by t ...

of Espírito Santo on 22 February 1785. During the war between France and Spain (in 1801), Francisco da Silveira, along with other important people in the province, raised a voluntary corp, and as sergeant figured in the Monterei company, commanded by

Gomes Freire de Andrade Gomes Freire de Andrade, ComC (27 January 1757, in Vienna – 18 October 1817) was a field marshal and officer of the Portuguese army who served France at the end of his military career. History Early life Gomes Freire de Andrade was the so ...

. He was rewarded by being assigned to the 6th Cavalry Regiment, first as sergeant, then as Lieutenant Commander on 14 March 1803.

Peninsular wars

He commanded the cavalry in 1807, when the Portuguese army was ordered to march from the borders to the coast. He was in Aveiro, when in December he was called to Coimbra to testify for the annihilation of the 6th, 9th, 11th and 12th regiments, by General Junot. With the fall of the monarchy in sight, he escaped to Porto in order to board an English ship, where he assumed that he would depart for Brazil. His plan foiled, he escaped to Vila real, where he later became one of the factors in the acclamation of the legitimate government in 1808. In March 1809 he led a force which carried out the successful Siege of Chaves from its French garrison. He kept the French from capturing Amarante from 18 April to 3 May 1809 during the second French invasion of Portugal. Driven out, he later recaptured the place and helped cut off the forces of

Nicolas Soult Marshal General Jean-de-Dieu Soult, 1st Duke of Dalmatia, (; 29 March 1769 – 26 November 1851) was a French general and statesman, named Marshal of the Empire in 1804 and often called Marshal Soult. Soult was one of only six officers in Frenc ...

, forcing the French marshal to abandon his artillery and wagon trains in order to escape. He commanded a Portuguese division in Arthur Wellesley, Marquess of Wellington's Allied army at the

Battle of Vitoria At the Battle of Vitoria (21 June 1813) a British, Portuguese and Spanish army under the Marquess of Wellington broke the French army under King Joseph Bonaparte and Marshal Jean-Baptiste Jourdan near Vitoria in Spain, eventually leadin ...

on 21 June 1813.

References

* * * * 1763 births 1821 deaths People from Peso da Régua Portuguese soldiers Portuguese generals Counts of Amarante Portuguese military commanders of the Napoleonic Wars People of the Peninsular War 18th-century Portuguese people 19th-century Portuguese people {{portugal-mil-bio-stub Portuguese nobility