Simón Rodríguez Susarte, commonly known as Simón Susarte, was a Spanish

goatherd A goatherd or goatherder is a person who herds goats as a vocational activity. It is similar to a shepherd who herds sheep. Goatherds are most commonly found in regions where goat populations are significant; for instance, in Africa and South A ...

from

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

, who in 1704 aided a Bourbon Spanish attempt to seize Gibraltar during the Twelfth Siege of Gibraltar by revealing a concealed path to the attackers which led to the top of the

Rock of Gibraltar The Rock of Gibraltar (from the Arabic name Jabal Ṭāriq , meaning "Mountain of Tariq ibn Ziyad, Tariq") is a monolithic limestone mountain high dominating the western entrance to the Mediterranean Sea. It is situated near the end of a nar ...

. Susarte then guided a Bourbon contingent along this difficult trail, aiming to surprise the Grand Alliance garrison in hopes of recovering the town.San Roque Tourism – Simón Susarte Park

The Gibraltar siege

Following the

capture of Gibraltar The capture of Gibraltar by Anglo-Dutch forces of the Grand Alliance occurred between 1 and 4 August 1704 during the War of the Spanish Succession. Since the beginning of the war the Alliance had been looking for a harbour in the Iberian Penins ...

by an Anglo-Dutch fleet on 4 August 1704 on behalf of the Grand Alliance, the Franco-Spanish Bourbon forces counterattacked by laying

siege A siege () . is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or by well-prepared assault. Siege warfare (also called siegecrafts or poliorcetics) is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict charact ...

to the town in September, mainly attacking from the northern slopes of The Rock.

The path

On 8 October, Simón Susarte visited the Bourbon Spanish army camp on the north end of the

isthmus An isthmus (; : isthmuses or isthmi) is a narrow piece of land connecting two larger areas across an expanse of water by which they are otherwise separated. A tombolo is an isthmus that consists of a spit or bar, and a strait is the sea count ...

to advise the troops of a path which led from the east side of Gibraltar's sheer rockface to its summit. This path was known to Susarte and other goatherds from

, as they had used it regularly in search of

pasture Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Types of pasture Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, c ...

for their goats. The Marquis of Villadarias was in command at the camp; after confirming the veracity of Susarte's account, he decided to send a Colonel Figueroa together with 500 lightly armed grenadiers under Susarte to take the Alliance forces by surprise from the sheer rock face, in conjunction with a general attack to be launched by the remaining Spanish forces. On the night of 9 October, Figueroa's soldiers left the Bourbon lines and began climbing up the jagged eastern slopes of Gibraltar to the "''Paso del Algarrobo''" (). The troops spent the night on the east side of the Rock in

Fig Tree Cave Fig Tree Cave is a cave in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. It is located on the eastern cliffs of the Rock of Gibraltar, not far from Martin's Cave within the Upper Rock Nature Reserve. It is listed in the Heritage and Antiquiti ...

and

Martin's Cave Martin's Cave is a cave in the British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. It opens on the eastern cliffs of the Rock of Gibraltar, below its summit at O'Hara's Battery. It is an ancient sea cave, though it is now loc ...

before ascending Middle Hill the next day.

The Grand Alliance counter-attack

Prince George of Hesse-Darmstadt Prince George Louis of Hessen-Darmstadt (25 April 1669 – 13 September 1705) was a Field Marshal in the Austrian army. He is known for his career in Habsburg Spain, as Viceroy of Catalonia (1698–1701), head of the Austrian army in the War of ...

had anticipated the possibility of an attack from the rear and had kept a mobile force in reserve to guard against such an eventuality. It was formed by an English company and two Spanish companies: a regular company under captain Francisco de Sandoval and a Catalan company of miquelets under Jaume Burguy, numbering 300 men, all of them led by Hesse's brother Heinrich.De la Penya i Parell, Narcís Feliu: Anales de Cataluña. Vol. III. Barcelona: Juan Pablo Martí, 1709, pp. 526–527 This reserve immediately responded and engaged the Spanish Bourbons at Middle Hill. Although the Bourbons had the advantage of height, they were trapped against the precipice they had climbed and only had three rounds of ammunition each, as a result of travelling light; they had not come prepared for a pitched battle. The Spanish Habsburg force led by Captain Burguy, made up of miquelets and regulars, marched ahead and dislodged the Spanish Bourbon grenadiers from the top of the hill. At the same time, Sandoval, with his remaining regulars and miquelets, charged upon the bulk of the assaulting force from one flank, while Heinrich von Hesse attacked from the other side. Around a hundred of the Bourbon force, including their colonel, were captured. Hundreds more were killed, either by defending fire or by falling off the Rock while attempting to flee. Only a few, including Simón Susarte, made it back to the Bourbon lines. The English subsequently ensured that there would be no repeat of this episode by blasting away the path used by the Spanish.

Existence of Simón Susarte

There is doubt about the existence of Simón Susarte, since contemporary sources did not mention him at all and the first recorded mention dates to seventy eight years after the event. Susarte's story is first mentioned by

Ignacio López de Ayala Ignacio López de Ayala (18 October 1739 Grazalema, Cádiz – 24 April 1789 in Tarifa) was a Spanish writer, astronomer and historian. Life He was a professor of poetry at the Reales Estudios de San Isidro in Madrid. He authored a neoclassica ...

in his ''Historia de Gibraltar'' (''History of Gibraltar''), in 1782, and by

Francisco María Montero Francisco is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the masculine given name ''Franciscus''. Meaning of the name Francisco In Spanish, people with the name Francisco are sometimes nicknamed "Paco". San Francisco de Asís was known as ''Pater Commu ...

in his ''Historia de Gibraltar y su Campo'' (''History of Gibraltar and its Countryside''), in 1860. However, the official accounts of the siege published in the ''

Gaceta de Madrid La Gaceta may refer to * ''La Gaceta'' (Honduras), the official journal of the Republic of Honduras. * ''La Gaceta'' (Tampa), a trilingual newspaper in Tampa, Florida, United States * ''La Gaceta'' (Tucumán), a newspaper in San Miguel de Tucum� ...

'' or the letters of Villadarias (which generically talks about ''l'affaire de la montagne'', ''the mountain affair'') do not mention it. Sáez Rodríguez argues that the lack of any contemporary record of Susarte's involvement does not prove he did not exist but only that his alleged participation was hushed up. A park in San Roque featuring Susarte's statue is named after him.

References

Bibliography