2023-11-18 04:35:52
The famous General Francisco Javier Castaños, our hero of the Battle of Bailén against Napoleon’s invading troops, died in 1852 at no less than 94 years old. A surprisingly high and unusual age for that time, especially if we take into account his almost exclusive dedication to the Spanish Army and the large number of wars in which he participated. “This death, although it was already to be feared if we consider his advanced age, could not help but affect everyone,” noted the newspaper ‘El Católico’ in its edition of September 24, 1852, the day after the sad death.
The press also said that Castaños had been born in Madrid on April 22, 1758 and that he had received the rank of infantry captain from King Charles III, when he was only 10 years old. That means that he served the Spanish Army more than anyone else in history, at least as far as we know. In total, 83 years in military uniform. Yes, you read that right… 83 years!
For all that service rendered, the newspapers also said that the general reached the end of his long life overwhelmed by all the decorations he had received, even “overwhelmed”, but without a gesture of haughtiness, superiority or pride. One day after his death there was no Spanish newspaper that did not dedicate almost all of its pages to praising the figure of this hero of the War of Independence against the French. All the headlines praised the architect of Napoleon’s first defeat in the open field and that he had achieved all the honors.
However, they also highlighted that the famous Spanish general had left this world far removed from the luxuries and riches common to people of his status. Castaños himself recognized this in his will, which was aired in the newspapers when the illness had already cornered him. The soldier wrote: “I die poor, but, even if he were rich, he would prefer not to spend on sumptuous catafalques and great music, but on suffrages and alms to needy families.” The newspaper revealed something similar ‘The time’: “The Duke of Bailén has made all his testamentary dispositions, which are very easy to arrange, since the entire wealth that the first captain general of Spain has in cash did not exceed forty-seven dollars two days ago.”
His “sublime charity”
Without giving many details, ‘La Gaceta’ responded to the question of how the general could have ended up bankrupt: «Two great feelings have filled Castaños’ life. The love of his kings and his country, and the practice of beneficence. To the first he consecrated his blood and to the second all the goods of his land. The oldest, the most illustrious of our generals, has died poor. But that poverty is his best aura, because it is not the effect of luxury or vice, but rather comes solely and exclusively from his ardent and sublime charity.
And he added later: «All the needy and needy were his children [en la vida real no los tuvo], and among them he generously distributed his salary as captain general, his only fortune. Thus, today more than a hundred families addressed their wishes to heaven to prolong their existence, and thus they mourn inconsolably for such a painful loss.
It is strange, however, that a member of the Army like him, who had reached the highest ranks of the military establishment and who had written some of the most glorious pages in the history of Spain, ended up that way. Also that the State did not help him and, above all, that he did not care in the slightest.
long career
The incomprehension is greater if we look at their service. After receiving the rank of infantry captain from the King at the age of 10, he went through the Seminary of Nobles and the Academy of Barcelona, before later being assigned to the ‘Savoy’ Regiment and officially beginning his long military career at 16. « He attended the blockade and siege of Gibraltar and the taking of the island of Menorca, occupied by the English, in whose operations he demonstrated the courage and skill that later elevated him to the first rank in the militia,” said a newspaper that was so monarchical and liberal. like ‘Spain’.
This newspaper continued the mourning with the following words: «The report of the cannon, sadly resounding every half hour, yesterday announced to the inhabitants of the capital a national calamity: the death of the most illustrious of their sons. […] The people of Madrid, without distinction of parties, ages and sexes, loved the venerable warrior with that respectful affection that inspires every reputation that has been preserved pure of all suspicious contact in the extensive series of our political disputes.
Castaños experienced very closely Napoleon’s efforts to dominate Europe and defeat the great enemy of his Empire, Great Britain, without knowing that along the way he would meet a hero like General Castaños. The architect of the French Revolution had managed to sign with Manuel Godoy, Spanish Prime Minister and supporter of Charles IV, the Treaty of Fontainebleau in 1807. With it he obtained the King’s permission to cross Spain with more than 100,000 soldiers and the objective of, supposedly, , invade Portugal.
The beginning of the war
The Monarch swallowed it, because as he passed through the Peninsula he conquered almost all the cities until he reached Madrid. The famous revolts of the Spanish people then began with the conviction of expelling the invader. Spain called up its citizens and managed to gather 30,000 men, the vast majority of them militiamen without any combat experience. This is how things were when General Castaños and General Dupont met in Bailén on July 19, 1808.
The town of Jaén had become an obligatory passage for the French to control the uprising in Andalusia, but things did not go as expected. With Castaños in command, that battle meant the first defeat of the powerful French Army on land and the beginning of the end of the Napoleonic Empire. More than 20,000 invading soldiers surrendered, giving way to the myth that the press praised in 1852, despite his dubious forays into politics with Ferdinand VII, as captain general of Catalonia, as president of the Council of State and as regent tutor of Isabel II. in his minority.
«Castaños was about to enter Madrid, already abandoned by the intruding king after the battle of Bailén, when some of his generals told him that soldiers who did not have uniforms should not appear at Court. ‘Let everyone come in, because without uniform they have won,’ the general replied. Less timely and less significant sayings have given fame to many generals,” recalled ‘El Heraldo’, a conservative newspaper opposed to the progressive party.
In the case of the Duke of Bailén, the different editorial lines had little weight when it came to praising his figure. There was ‘The nation’, ‘The Observer’he ‘Diario de Catalunya’ And till ‘Bulletin of medicine, surgery and pharmacy’. The ‘Illustration’for example, dedicated the cover and several pages to this monarchist and absolutist soldier, despite being a newspaper with clear republican overtones and founded by a conspirator of Queen Isabel II: «To Castaños in Bailén, like to other heroes in so many memorable battles, more glory should come to him for the way he fought,” he stressed.
Although Queen Isabel II ordered a state funeral to be held and his remains to be buried in the Pantheon of Illustrious Men in Madrid, where he remained until 1963, her requests were much more humble. A century later, in fact, ABC claimed that the clauses he stipulated in his will, inappropriate for someone of his status, had greatly moved readers.
In the ‘Gaceta de Madrid’, for its part, it could be read in 1852: «I order that I be shrouded in the oldest uniform I have, the one I used to wear to the Council. After twenty-four hours, my body will be taken to the holy field, that of San Nicolás, and placed on the ground, and not in a niche, where people pass by. “Let it carry only a smooth marble slab, with no more inscription than my name, age and the day of my death.”
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