Fought #OnThisDay 14 April 1814 the last battle of the Peninsular War, Bayonne.

A sortie by General Thouvenot's French garrison against Lt-Gen John Hope.

The fighting occurred as news of Napoleon's abdication reached the armies.

An allied victory, but Gen Hope was captured.

Captain John Waldron of the 2/27th (Inniskilling) Regiment, accepting the invitation of a French officer to fight a personal duel at the opening of the Battle of Castalla.

Both sides watched on, but it was very swift, with Waldron cutting his opponent down ⚔

The allied forces included a myriad of troops such as:.
2nd Italian Regiment
Roll-Dillon Battalion
King's German Legion
Sicilian Estero Regiment
1st Italian Regiment
Calabrian Free Corps
Cazadores de Mallorca
Alongside British & KGL troops, as well as Spanish.

Battle of Castalla fought #OnThisDay 13 April 1813

An Anglo-Spanish-Sicilian force under Lieutenant General Sir John Murray defeated Marshal Suchet's Army.

Murray's troops successfully repelled a series of French attacks on their hilltop position, causing a French retreat.

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Captain John Waldron of the 2/27th (Inniskilling) Regiment, accepting the invitation of a French officer to fight a personal duel at the opening of the Battle of Castalla.

Both sides watched on, but it was very swift, with Waldron cutting his opponent down ⚔

Flattery!

The combat of Biar, 12 April 1813.

A successful British rearguard action that delayed Suchet’s advance & reduced his chances of defeating Murray’s Army of Alicante.

Both sides suffered around 300 casualties, but the French advance was vitally delayed.

#OnThisDay 12 April 1814 Wellington enters Toulouse in southern France. 2 days after the fighting for the city, to celebrations & after Napoleon's abdication, Wellington at the head of Anglo-Portugese & Spainish forces marched into the city, ending their Peninsular War.

Treaty of Fontainebleau siged #OnThisDay 11 April 1814 between Napoleon & Austria, Russia & Prussia.

Signed in Paris on 11 April by both sides & ratified by Napoleon on 13 April. With it, the allies ended Napoleon's rule as emperor of the French & sent him into exile on Elba.

#OnThisDay 1814 one of the last battles of the Peninsular War & Napoleonic Wars: The Battle of Toulouse, took place 4 days after Napoleon's surrender.
Wellington led Anglo-Portugese & Spanish armies who had fought their way into France.
2 days later Soult's French left the city.

I am always reminded that in Arthur & Kitty's marriage, that she did warn him, that her appearance had changed since he last saw her (she had been ill whilst he was in Indoa for nearly a decade), but he did the honourable thing.

He was not faithful, but he had his code.

#OnThisDay 10 April 1806, Arthur Wellesley, later The 1st Duke of Wellington, married Kitty Pakenham, the daughter of a Anglo-Irish peer.

Wellesley's clergyman brother, Gerald did the service in Rutland Square, Dublin.

Arthur reportedly said 'She's grown ugly, by jove!'