Juan de la Cruz Mourgeón y Achet (1766–1822) was a Spanish military commander and colonial administrator.

Early career

He saw action during the

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

, both in Rosellón and in Cataluña.. Gil Novales, Alberto (2010)
''Diccionario biográfico de España (1808-1833)'': G/O, pp. 2105-06.

Fundación Mapfre Fundación is a town and municipality of the Colombian Department of Magdalena. Its people are known as Fundanenses. The primary economic activity is livestock-raising, for production of both meat and milk. Other crops are: corn, yuca, o ...

. Retrieved 8 April 2023. Wounded three times, he was promoted to lieutenant in 1875. He then participated in the

War of the Oranges The War of the Oranges (; ; ) was a brief conflict in 1801 in which Spanish forces, instigated by the government of France, and ultimately supported by the French military, invaded Portugal. The war resulted in the Treaty of Badajoz, the los ...

Peninsular War

In June 1808, the governor of Cadiz and Captain General of Andalusia, Tomás de Morla y Pacheco, commissioned Mourgeón with setting up the Battalion of Tiradores de Cadiz (Sharpshooters of Cadiz), for which he was promoted to lieutenant colonel. He led his battalion later that year at Baylen, for which he was promoted to colonel. Leading the vanguard of Grimarest's 2nd Andalusian Division, part of General Castaños's Army of the Centre, which was defeated by Marshal Moncey at Lerín (25 October), Mourgeón and his troops found themselves surrounded by Morlot's division when Grimarest retreated. Mourgeón took refuge in the castle at Lerín with his troops, all new levies, and consisting of a single regular battalion, his Tiradores de Cadiz, and a few Catalan volunteers. They defended themselves there for two days, expecting Grimarest to come to their rescue, but he was decided not to. Mourgeón finally surrendered after two-thirds of his troops had been killed or wounded. Oman, Charles (1902)
''A History of the Peninsula War'', Vol. I.
''Project Gutenberg''. Retrieved 10 February 2023. Grimarest was reprimanded for his defeat at Lerín. Martín-Lanuza Martínez, Alberto
"Pedro María Legallois Grimarest".
''Diccionario Biográfico electrónico''.

Real Academia de la Historia The Royal Academy of History (, RAH) 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 different branches of life, of c ...

. Retrieved 8 April 2023. Mourgeón managed to escape from France and made his way to Cádiz, where he was rewarded with the promotion to brigadier in July 1810 and seeing action that year at Moguer (August 1810). He saw further action at Barrosa (March 1811) Oman, Charles (1911)
''A History of the Peninsular War'', Vol. IV, p. 117.
''Project Gutenberg''. Retrieved 282 April 2023. and at

Albuera La Albuera is a village southeast of Badajoz, Extremadura, Spain. it had a population of c. 2,000 inhabitants. History It was scene of the Battle of Albuera (16 May 1811) between Spanish, Portuguese and British troops under William Carr Beresf ...

(May 1811), after which he was promoted to field marshal.

Post-war career

In 1821 the government of the

Trienio Liberal The , () or Three Liberal Years, was a period of three years in Spain between 1820 and 1823 when a liberal government ruled Spain after a military uprising in January 1820 by the lieutenant-colonel Rafael del Riego against the absolutist rule ...

appointed him captain general of

New Kingdom of Granada New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...

and president of

Quito Quito (; ), officially San Francisco de Quito, is the capital city, capital and second-largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its metropolitan area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha Province, P ...

.. Lucena Salmoral, Manuel
"Juan de la Cruz Mourgeon".
''Diccionario Biográfico electrónico''.

. Retrieved 8 April 2023. He died in Quito in April 1822.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mourgeon, Juan de la Cruz 1822 deaths Viceroys of New Granada Spanish generals Laureate Cross of Saint Ferdinand Spanish commanders of the Napoleonic Wars 1766 births