The garrison commander of León, Brigadier General Jean-Baptiste Jeanin, destroyed several sections of the wall of the city, and on 19 June, retreated to Benavente.

[3] Meanwhile, General Jean Pierre François Bonet moved from Asturias to León, concentrating his troops on the right bank of the river Órbigo.

On the morning of 23 June, Brigadier General Jean-André Valletaux with 5,000 men, relieved the French garrison in the town of Benavides.

The Spanish fought tenaciously for more than four hours, until Brigadier General Federico Castañón arrived with three battalions of the Oviedo Regiment, commanded by Colonel Pedro Méndez de Vigo.

In July, the French army at León was reinforced with several thousand men under General Jean-Marie Dorsenne, who replaced Bessières.