John Moore (General)

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Sir John Moore

Sir John Moore (born November 13, 1761 in Glasgow , † January 16, 1809 at A Coruña ) was a British general during the Napoleonic Wars , who is best known today for his famous retreat to La Coruña .

Military career

Moore joined the British army as an ensign in 1776 , participated in the American War of Independence and the expeditions against Gibraltar and Corsica , fought as brigadier general in the West Indies in 1796 and was governor of Santa Lucia in May of the same year , but had to follow suit in 1797 out of consideration for his health UK return.

He then fought against the rebels in Ireland and in 1799 as a major general in Holland against the French, but in 1800 in Egypt , where, although wounded at Abukir , he distinguished himself particularly in the siege of Cairo . In 1804 he was accepted as a Knight Companion in the Bath Order . In 1805 he received a command in Sicily and in 1808 a command of a corps of 10,000 men, which was supposed to support the Swedes against the French, Russians and Danes.

But since he fell out with Gustav IV on landing and was arrested by Gustav IV , he returned with his troops to Great Britain. Sent to Portugal, he united with General David Baird and advanced as far as Burgos , where he hoped to find support from the Spanish insurgents , but had to retreat to La Coruña in order not to be cut off from the coast.

When he ordered the embarkation of the troops here, Soult reached him on January 16, 1809 and Napoleon I. Moore was killed in the ongoing battle, but his corps was saved.

After his death

Grave in La Coruña

In the Westminster Abbey and in Glasgow monuments are erected to him. His brother published the history of his campaign in Spain (London 1809) and his biography (that. 1834).

Slowly and sadly we laid him down,
From the field of his fame fresh and gory;
We carved not a line, and we raised not a stone,
But we left him alone with his glory.
( Charles Woolfe (1791–1823), The Burial of Sir John Moore after Corunna )

Moore was a Freemason and a member of Renfrew County Kilwinning Lodge No. 11 in Paisley, Scotland.

literature

  • DW Davies: Sir John Moore's Peninsular Campaign. 1808-1809 . The Hague 1974.
  • Moore, Sir John . In: Encyclopædia Britannica . 11th edition. tape 18 : Medal - Mumps . London 1911, p. 809 (English, full text [ Wikisource ]).

Individual evidence

  1. ^ William Arthur Shaw: The Knights of England. Volume 1, Sherratt and Hughes, London 1906, p. 176.
  2. ↑ Eugen Lennhoff, Oskar Posner, Dieter A. Binder: Internationales Freemaurer Lexikon . 5th edition. Herbig Verlag, ISBN 978-3-7766-2478-6
personal data
SURNAME Moore, John
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British general during the Napoleonic Wars
DATE OF BIRTH November 13, 1761
PLACE OF BIRTH Glasgow
DATE OF DEATH January 16, 1809
Place of death near A Coruña