Royal Fortress of the Concepcion

History

In 1640, following the death of Philip II, the conflict known as the Portuguese Restoration War began. The new Spanish King, Philip III of Spain, intended to make Portugal a Spanish province, and Portuguese nobles stood to lose all of their power. As a consequence the Portuguese restored their independence from Spain. On the 1 December 1640, following a military coup the Duke of Braganza was proclaimed king of Portugal and became John IV. The Spanish King began to make plans to recover the throne of Portugal and part of these plans was the strengthening of fortifications along the border along with the construction of new fortress along the border of the two countries. The area of the border between the River Côa and the River Águeda became a buffer zone between the two kingdoms. The Fortress of the Concepcion was one of the new fortress constructed by order of the Duke of Osunal, commander of the Spanish Army and was located in this area to serve as a military station for the Spanish army to recover Portugal.

Construction

The construction of the fortress was under the control of the French military engineer Simon Jocquet and work began on the 8 December 1663, The Feast day of the Immaculate Conception hence the name given to the new fortress. The first phase of construction was completed on the 20 January 1664 taking just 40 days. This first phase sore the construction built around a large central courtyard with Pentagon bastions built in each corner with reinforced earthworks around the perimeter with addition of bundle of brushwood fascine’s and filled Baskets of woven wicker timbers woven around steaks in circles to form Redoubts. The fort was garrisoned by 1500 infantrymen and 200 cavalrymen.

1664 De-commissioning

On the 7 July 1664 the Spanish and Portuguese forces clashed at the Battle of Castelo Rodrigo. Following the initial success of the Spanish army, the Portuguese sent reinforced of 3,000 men under the leadership of Viscount of Fonte Arcada. The Portuguese counter-attack proved decisive. Many prisoners were taken and all the artillery pieces captured. It is told that Osuna and John of Austria the Younger, escaped from Castelo Rodrigo disguised as monks. Following Osuna’s fall from grace Philip III of Spain took over control of the army and he ordered the partial demolition of Fort Concepcion, which had been operational for less than a year. What remained was still occasionally used as a base for Spanish troops in the border area.

1735 Re-construction

In 1668 the Spanish officially recognised the independence of the Portuguese kingdom but the border zone was regarded with suspicion by both countries. The following decades saw the Portuguese improving the fortified strongholds at Olivenza then part of Portugal, Elvas, Valença do Minho and Almeida and in reaction to these border fortification enhancements, the Spanish reacted by instigate works on a line of fortifications to the Spanish side of the Border. Following the establishment of the Bourbon dynasty with the reign of Philip V, the First Ministers José Patiño ordered the re-construction and enhancement of Fort Concepcion. The works on the new structure were built using much of the previous fortress’s footprint. In charge of the construction was the military engineer Pedro Moreau in collaboration with the architect and sculptor Manuel Lara Churriguera. Work began in May 1736. Moreau’s work was taken over by Antonio de Gaver and Juan Giraldo de Chaves on several occasions when he was called away to work on the fortifications at Oran in Algeria, and Cádiz. The Fortress was completed in 1758 just before war erupted once more in 1762 between the Spanish and British. During this War the Spanish invaded Portugal, using Concepcion as Cantonment, but the area around the fortress remained quiet and when hostilities ended in 1763 not a shot had been fired in anger, from, or towards the fortress.

The Peninsular War

The Peninsular War started when French and Spanish armies occupied Portugal in 1807, and escalated in 1808 when France turned on Spain, and as a consequence the Fortress of Concepcion fall into the control of the French forces. On the 24 May 1808 French troops under the command of General Louis Henri Loison marched on the Fortress of Almeida.

French Occupation

By the 12 June Loison had turned his attention on to the Fortress of Concepcion. The French column informed the fort’s Governor that they had arrived to relieve the garrison. Fearing the behaviour of the French column, the Governor and his garrison quickly abandoned the fort to the French, escaping there clutches by slipping out the fort’s postern gate. Loison now occupied both Concepcion and the Fortress of Almeida. By the 16 June Loison had received orders to march on the city of Porto to suppress an insurrection by the Portuguese against the French occupation. Loison set out and on reaching the town of Mesão Frio 58 miles (93 km) northwest of Almeida, his troops were stopped by Portuguese insurgents. On retreating to Almeida, Loison received a fresh dispatch from General Junot ordering him to march on Lisbon which was threatening insurrection. Before leaving Almeida, Loison arranged to have the cannons and garrison of Fort Concepcion moved to Almeida and to have the northern most bastions of the fortress blown up in the hope of rendering the fortress useless if it fell into the enemies hands.

French withdrawal

On the 30 August 1809 the Convention of Sintra was signed by General Junot, which under the Unfavourable terms of the treaty, the French Army, all its equipment and all its baggage was to be evacuated from Portugal and eastern Spain by the British Navy from Porto as soon as possible. By October British Forces had re-occupied the fortress of Concepcion and the fortress of Almeida. Despite the retreat of General Sir John Moore to A Coruña in January 1809 the fortress remained in the hands of the Portuguese and British.

1810

Unable to take command personally, Napoleon appointed his most dependable Marshal, Masséna to take charge of the Army of Portugal in April 1810. This army of three corps had a total of 65,000 men with a further reinforcement of 20,000 troops once they were ready. By May 1810 Wellington’s forces were becoming strong and supplies and manpower was on the increase. Wellingtons espionage network had informed him of Masséna appointment and a French lieutenant who had deserted to one of Craufurd’s pickets revelled that the French had moved 80,000 troops to the province and where preparing to Invade Portugal once more at the earliest convenience.Wellington’s response to an impending invasion of Portugal from Ciudad Rodrigo was to strengthen his defences in the borders. He ordered the refortifying of the Fortress of the Concepcion, and to repair the damage done to the forts partially destroyed bastions which had been inflicted by the French in there 1808 retreat. Brigadier General William Cox, the military governor of Almeida was in charge of the works. He attempted to enlist Spanish Labourers’ to do the work but this was unsuccessful and he was forced to use soldiers of the Portuguese 9th Line to complete the work. The refortifications were overseen by Captain John Burgoyne of Corps of Royal Engineers. As well as the Portuguese soldiers, Burgoyne also had a small collection of skilled Portuguese stonemasons and carpenters at his disposal. The workforce set about clearing all the debris in the surrounding ditches caused by the French partial destructions and palisades were erected. Repairs were also made to the bastions at the north end of the fortress. The bridge into the fortress was repaired along with the draw bridge, covered walkways and gates. Burgoyne was also ordered to sink mines in to the two previously undamaged formidable bastions. Six tons of gunpowder were piled in barrels, in each of the four demilunes, and more barrels of powder were stacked in the casemates of the adjoining curtain walls to the four bastions. Further explosives were placed in the central arch of the forts redoubt and the casemates and blockhouse to the south east of the fortress were packed with a total of three tons of powder. The strategy behind these set explosives charges was that if the fortress was likely to fall into to the hands of the French, the retreating garrison would set the charges, destroying the fortress to prevent the French from using Concepcion as a base to attack Almeida.

Once the fortifications had been repaired, Brigadier Cox kept the Portuguese 9th line along with 120 artillerymen sent from Almeida, to garrison the fortress. He also sent two howitzers, four sets of six guns and four sets of eight guns. With the hardware he also 12,000 rations, 10,000 rounds of ammunition and 100 rounds for each piece of artillery supplied. Cox also stationed four companies of the 45th Foot which were divided between the two near-by villages of Aldea del Obispo and Vale da Mula. These troops would quickly reinforce the fortress if it became under attack.

Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo

On the 26 April 1810 the French Army of Portugal took up position to Besiege the Spanish fortified town of Ciudad Rodrigo as a prelude to there planned invasion of Portugal. Under The Masséna’s plan his forces needed to capture and consolidate this border town to use as a base for there invasion army. On the 25 June a concerned Wellington decided to visit the fortified town of Almeida. He held discussions with Brigadier General Cox, the governor of the fortress and toured the local picket posts and positions along the border manned by Crauford’s Light Divisions. He also visited the fortress of the Concepcion, inspecting the repairs and preparations made by Captain Burgoyne. After his tour of inspection, Wellington returned to Almeida and wrote a memo to Crauford suggesting modifications and improvements which he should make. Along with these recommendations were suggestions of the way a tactical withdraw should proceed, when, as Wellington expected, the French attacked the border. The Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo ended on the 9 July when the French VI Corps under the command of Marshal Michel Ney took the fortified city when the Governor of the city Don Andrés Perez de Herrasti surrendered his 5,500-man Spanish garrison which had put up a gallant defence of the city only to be beaten when Ney’s artillery opened a breach in the walls. The siege had delayed Masséna's invasion plans for Portugal by over a month, but now the French were ready to move west towards Almeida with the Fort of Concepcion lying in there path.

The Capture and Destruction of the Fort of Concepcion

Even before the fall of Ciudad Rodrigo, the French had probed the British picket defences to the west of the city towards the border. On the 4 July, General Junot had accompanied General Sainte-Croix on a reconnaissance of the area. Following several skirmishes and actions Junot had reconnoitred the fortress of Concepcion following which he withdrew all his forces to Ciudad Rodrigo. Wellingtons strategy now instructed Burgoyne to prepare for the withdrawal of the fortress’s garrison and to demolish the fortress with his prepared charges. By the 4 July the Portuguese 9th line, Portuguese Artillery battery and the four companys of the 45th foot had withdrawn to Picton’s Division near the town of Pinhel. At the fortress the three companies of Portuguese Caçadores which had been left on picket duty were replaced with horseman of the 14th Light dragoons, and two companies of the 95th Rifles, who had been tasked with guarding the fortress and its demolition mines.

In the early hours of the morning on the 21 July Loison’s 25th Dragoons and 3rd Hussars along with infantry crossed the Dos Casas stream and rapidly proceeded up the hillside from Aldea del Obispo towards the Fortress of Concepcion. In front of them, in full retreat were the 14 th Light Dragoons. Captain Brotherton sent one of his officers ahead of the retreat to Inform Burgoyne that his Light Dragoons were retreating and that time was short before the French would be on the fortress. Brotherton was able to delay the French long enough for Burgoyne’s mines to be fired. At 4.45am they exploded hurling the debris of the fortress’s masonry across the surrounding countryside. A number of men and horses of the dragoons were caught and killed in the explosion. Burgoyne reported that one side of the fortress had blown up although he was unable to ascertain an exact damage report due to the fact that the British forces had to rapidly evacuate the fort before all the four mines had been set to explode. The Fortress had been severally damaged but the French who had now taken possession discovered that only one of the three mines had detonated. There had been several other smaller explosions to the structure and the fortress defences had been seriously compromised.

The Second French Occupation

Following the explosions, Loison, under Ney’s orders took possession of Concepcion and its surrounding plateau for the second time. The French now would use Concepcion’s close procimity to the Fortress of Almeida to use as a base for the organisation of the Investment of the Fortress. There now began a period of activity which involved preparation for Concepcion to be the Headquarters for Marshal Masséna. The men of Masséna État-major (Staff) moved into some of the remaining bomb proof casemates along with there horses. Masséna first aide-de-camp, Pelet also took up residence in a casemate. With this influx of staff and men into the fortress, some resources were added, including the setting up of four baking ovens along with many bakers. To garrison the fort three companies of Taupin’s infantry Brigades. French army laid siege to Almeida on July 25, 1810. On the 16 August Masséna took up residence in the old fortress’s Governors quarters to oversee the operations personally. However Masséna stay at Concepcion was short. By the 26 August the Siege of Almeida was over. Masséna’s Army of Portugal swiftly took occupation of Almeida and then moved on towards Lisbon. Wellington’s tactics of delaying Masséna along the borderlands close to Concepcion and his tactical withdrawal’s from the border Fortress’s had given him time to construct the Lines of Torres Vedras which ultimately forced the French out of Portugal

Second French withdrawal

By October Masséna’s army was at Lines of Torres Vedras which proved to be the obstacle that stopped the French from taking Lisbon. Day by Day the Allied Army of Wellington grew stronger with reinforcements of troops, supplies and equipment from Britain arriving daily. The Portuguese army was now well trained and its numbers had increased. Napoleon, despite requests from Masséna, had only sent a further 7,000 troops to reinforce the Army of Portugal but the biggest obstacle to Masséna was the lack of supplies. By March 1811 his army was starving and its munitions and powder where almost depleted. On the 5 March 1811 Masséna ordered the retreat from Portugal. Just 8.0 miles (12.9 km) south of Concepcion is the Border village of Fuentes de Oñoro. The defeat of Masséna’s forces at the Battle of Fuentes de Oñoro between the 3 and 4 May 1811 was the final action that saw the French pushed out of Portugal. Before the battle, Wellington’s Allied army had taken up positions along the line of low hills which ran from the Fort of Concepcion towards Fuentes de Oñoro. Seeing this build up and with no orders to hold out, the small Garrisons left at the Fortress of the Concepcion quickly withdrew leaving without further damage being inflicted on the Fortress