Spanish American wars of independence order of battle: Spanish expeditionary forces

In attempts to retain or re-assert control over its colonies in America, the Spanish Empire deployed several expeditionary forces during and after the Spanish American wars of independence. The largest of these forces, known as "the expeditionary army of Costa Firme",[1] and consisting of over 10,000 troops under General Morillo, undertook the Spanish reconquest of New Granada (1815–16).[2] Forces were also sent to New Spain between 1812 and 1817.[3] Later, after Mexican independence in 1821, a Spanish garrison was sent from Cuba to occupy Spain's last Mexican outpost, the fortress of San Juan de Ulúa; this force remained there until surrendering in 1825.[4] Finally, a force under Isidro Barradas Valdés attempted to regain control of Mexico in 1829.[5]

Viceroyalty of New Spain

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Counter insurgency (1812-1821)

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Period year Number of men Units and Commanders (units changed names in 1820)
European Expeditions
1812 - 1817
 
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year 1812
  • total men 3857
Unit soldiers Officers
Battalion Asturias (Mallorca) 270 men -
Battalion Lobera (Infante Don Carlos) 847 men Francisco Bucelli, teniente coronel
Regiment América (Murcia) 817 men,
one Battalion
Juan José Olazábal
Battalion Castilla (Voluntarios de Castilla) 649 men Francisco Hevia
Battalion Zamora 910 men Rafael Bracho
Battalion Fernando VII -expediciónario- 364 men Ángel Díaz del Castro, teniente coronel
year 1813
  • men total 1895
Unit soldiers officers
Battalion Extremadura 995 men coronel Benito Armiñan
Battalion Saboya (Reina) 900 men coronel Melchor Álvarez
Year 1815
  • men total 1749
  • Brigadier Fernando Miyares y Mancebo, commander of expedition
unit soldiers officers
Regiment Órdenes Militares 1126 men,
2 Battalions
Coronel Francisco LLamas
Battalion Voluntarios de Navarra (Barcelona) 623 men Coronel José Ruiz
Year 1817
  • men total 1547
  • Mariscal de Campo Pascual Liñan, commander of expedition.
unit soldiers officers
Regiment Zaragoza 2 Battalions brigadier Domingo Luaces

Defense of San Juan de Ulúa (1821-1825)

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Date Expeditions Units
San Juan de Ulúa
 
Bandera de la flota naval y de las fortalezas españolas
 
Fortress San Juan de Ulúa (Veracruz)
August 7, 1821
  • Cuerpo expedicionario de la Isla de Cuba
  • Brigadier Juan Rodríguez de la Torre, comandante en jefe
Unit Soldiers
1º Company mixed form Regiments Habana and Luisiana, and Battalions Málaga, Cataluña and Tarragona. 105 men
2º Company de Battalion Pardos de la Habana. 75 men
3º Company de Battalion Morenos de la Habana. 75 men
4º Company de voluntarios. 105 men
August 1821
  • 1º reinforcement
  • 299 men
October 1822
  • 2º reinforcement
  • 1º Commander of fortress Brigadier Francisco Lemaur.
  • 834 soldiers y 44 officers, y 100 artillery men Battalion Cataluña and Málaga.
December 24, 1822
  • 1º relief
  • 354 soldiers y 8 officers Battalion Málaga
  • 75 soldiers Battalion Tarragona
March 1823
  • 2º relief
  • numbers similar to 1º relief from battalions Cataluña, Tarragona y Málaga.
August 1823
  • 3º relief
  • 200 men.
July 1824
  • 4º relief
  • 227 men from Battalions Cataluña and Málaga.
January 1825
  • 5º relief (last)
  • 300 men battalions Cataluña and Tarragona, plus 116 men from Battalion Pardos y Morenos de Cuba.
  • 2º Commander of fortress, brigadier José Coppinger.

Expedition of Isidro Barradas (1829)

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Division of Vanguard (1829)
 
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  • Total 3,000 men

Commander

Units

  • Regiment de la Corona (3 Battalions )
    • I Battalion Rey Fernando
    • II Battalion Reina Amalia
    • III Battalion Real Borbón
  • Squadron of cavalry (dismounted) (incomplete)
  • Company of artillery (short)

Expeditionary Army of Costa Firme

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(Venezuela and New Granada)

Viceroyalty of Perú

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(Perú, Chile and Upper Peru)

References

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  1. ^ The Americas. Academy of American Franciscan History. 1961. p. 173.
  2. ^ Lynch, Spanish American Revolutions, 209. Rodríguez, Independence of Spanish America, 122. Kinsbruner, Independence in Spanish America, 57.
  3. ^ Small contingents from Spain had been arriving in the Americas since 1810. On August 25, 1810, a group of Spanish Marines arrived in Veracruz from Cádiz on the frigate, Nuestra señora de Atocha under the command of Rosendo Porlier and accompanying Viceroy Francisco Javier Venegas. These were the first Spaniards to have come from Europe in support of royalists. Frieyro de Lara. Guerra ejército y sociedad en el nacimiento de la España contemporánea. (2009, Universidad de Granada) p. 660.
  4. ^ Jaime E. Rodríguez O. (2005). The Divine Charter: Constitutionalism and Liberalism in Nineteenth-century Mexico. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 205–6. ISBN 978-0-7425-3710-1.
  5. ^ Ruiz Gordejuela Urquijo, Jesús (2006). La expulsión de los españoles de México y su destino incierto, 1821-1836. Universidad de Sevilla. ISBN 978-84-00-08467-7.