The siege of Figueras, which lasted from 10 April to 19 August 1811, saw the Spanish garrison of Sant Ferran Castle (San Fernando Fortress) led by Brigadier General Juan Antonio Martínez defend against an Imperial French force commanded by Marshal Jacques MacDonald and his deputy Louis Baraguey d'Hilliers.

[3] On the night of 9 and 10 April 1811, a Spanish guerrilla force led by the priest Francesc Rovira i Sala seized the Sant Ferran Castle from its Italian garrison in a well-executed coup de main.

MacDonald pleaded with Louis Gabriel Suchet for reinforcements, but that general refused to send a single soldier and went ahead with his intended Siege of Tarragona.

[3] MacDonald made no attempt to breach Sant Ferran's walls by cannon fire; rather he waited for hunger to compel a surrender.

Of the defenders, 1,500 died from enemy action and hunger, 2,000 marched into captivity, and 1,000 were too badly wounded or sick in the fortress hospital to leave.

Though the Spanish lost Sant Ferran in the end and failed to stop Suchet from capturing Tarragona, they tied up the entire VII Corps for the summer of 1811.

On 2 January 1811, General of Division Louis Gabriel Suchet successfully wrapped up the Siege of Tortosa when its 3,974-man Spanish garrison capitulated.

[4] Afterward, Suchet left General of Brigade Pierre-Joseph Habert and a French garrison in Tortosa and marched his prisoners back to Zaragosa under escort.

Freed from his responsibility to cover the siege, Marshal Jacques MacDonald moved his force toward Valls where he bumped into the enemy.

[6] Annoyed with MacDonald's lackluster performance, Emperor Napoleon confined his sphere of operations to northern Catalonia and assigned the territories southwest of Barcelona to Suchet.

The powerful citadel was designed and constructed in the reign of King Ferdinand VI of Spain and named San Fernando (Sant Ferran).

In the form of a circular bastioned enceinte, the fortress stood on a hill overlooking Figueres and the highway from Barcelona to Perpignan, France.

[9] Sant Ferran fortress capitulated to the French Republican army of General of Division Dominique Catherine de Pérignon on 28 November 1794.

But after three years, the French generals grew complacent and in April 1811 the key fort was only held by an Italian provisional battalion.

The small size of the garrison and the governor's slackness inspired the fighting priest Francesc Rovira i Sala and the leaders of the miquelets to attempt to seize the fort in a coup de main.

[12] On 7 April 1811, Rovira and his lieutenants assembled 2,000 miquelets north of Olot in the Pyrenees and launched a feint attack toward France.

At 1:00 AM on 10 April, a body of 700 men under Captains Casas and Llovera crept up to the postern gate where Marquez and the Pons brothers waited.

[12] Rovira's feint had alerted the garrison and a large portion of it had been marching in the hills all day in a futile effort to catch the partisans.

Notified of the disaster, General of Division Louis Baraguey d'Hilliers sent Peyri an infantry battalion and a cavalry squadron.

Rovira appointed Brigadier General Juan Antonio Martínez to command the fortress which was manned by 3,000 miquelets within a week of its capture.

[16] In addition to the garrison of Sant Ferran, Campoverde's 6,800 men, Rovira's 2,000 miquelets, and Eroles' 2,000 soldiers were available to break the French blockade.

Approaching through an area screened by olive trees, the French burst upon Sarsfield from the rear and threw his command into confusion.

Since the important port was only held by General Juan de Courten's division, the Spanish commander immediately withdrew from Figueres.

MacDonald began to construct an extensive system of siege works designed to keep the garrison inside and any potential relieving force outside.

The Spanish commander knew about the Tarragona catastrophe and realized relief was hopeless but he determined to hang on until the last moment.

The following day d'Hilliers sent an officer under a flag of truce into the fort and Martínez agreed to surrender after issuing his last rations.

When MacDonald found Juan Marquez among the prisoners, he immediately had the unfortunate young man hanged from the fortress walls.

[24] Though the siege ended in surrender, both Rovira and Martínez had rendered excellent service to Spain by tying up the VII Corps for the entire summer.

MacDonald and d'Hilliers were unable to send a single soldier to assist Suchet in the capture of Tarragona, the next battle of the French conquest of Aragon.

[27] In September Lacy reorganized the 8,000-man Army of Catalonia into three weak divisions under Generals Eroles, Sarsfield, and Francisco Milans del Bosch.