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John MooreBritish general
Date of Birth: 13.11.1761
Country:  Great Britain |
Content:
- Biography of John Moore
- Service from 1776 to 1798
- Service in Ireland in 1798
- Service from 1799 to 1803
- War with France from 1803 to 1808
- War in Spain from 1808 to 1809
Biography of John Moore
Early Life and EducationJohn Moore was born in Glasgow to the family of John Moore, a renowned physician and writer, and older brother of Vice-Admiral Graham Moore. He attended a secondary school in Glasgow but, at the age of 11, embarked on a grand tour of France, Italy, Germany, and Switzerland with his father and 16-year-old 8th Duke of Hamilton, who was his father's student. He then spent two years in Geneva, where he continued his education.
Service from 1776 to 1798
Moore began his service in the British Army in 1776 as an ensign in the 51st Foot Regiment, which was stationed on the island of Minorca at the time. He first saw action in 1778 during the American Revolutionary War as a lieutenant in the 82nd Foot Regiment, which was formed in Lancashire for service in North America by the Duke of Hamilton. From 1779 to 1781, he served in the garrison at Halifax. In 1779, he distinguished himself in the Battle of Penobscot in present-day Maine, where a small British force held out against a much larger number of American rebels until reinforcements arrived. After the end of the war in 1783, Moore returned to Britain and served as a Member of Parliament from 1784 to 1790.
In 1787, he was promoted to major and briefly served in the 60th Foot Regiment before returning to the 51st. In 1791, his unit was sent to the Mediterranean region, where Moore participated in the expedition to Gibraltar in 1792 and the Siege of Toulon. In 1794, he took part in the campaign in Corsica under the command of General Charles Stuart and was wounded at Calvi. He was promoted to colonel and appointed as Stuart's aide-de-camp in August. On September 9, 1795, he was given the rank of brigadier. However, disagreements between Moore and the new British Viceroy of Corsica led to his recall from the island in 1796. He was then sent to serve in the British West Indies under General Ralph Abercromby. Moore played a crucial role in restoring British control over Saint Lucia, which was under the nominal control of a group of rebel slaves who obeyed the local French republican administrator Victor Hugo. Moore commanded British forces, largely composed of French émigrés, during the suppression of the slave rebellion and even temporarily served as the governor of the island in 1796. However, he fell ill with yellow fever and was forced to return to Britain.
Service in Ireland in 1798
On January 1, 1798, Moore was promoted to major general and honorary colonel of the 9th West India Regiment. In the same year, he participated in the suppression of the republican uprising in Ireland. His personal intervention is credited with turning the tide of the rebellion after the Battle of Foulksmills on June 20 and the recapture of the city of Wexford, which was done before the arrival of General Gerard Lake's forces known for their brutality, possibly preventing the city's destruction. Although the rebellion was crushed with great severity, Moore distinguished himself from most other military leaders involved in its defeat by his humanity and refusal to impose harsh punishments on the rebels.
Service from 1799 to 1803
In June 1799, Moore commanded a brigade during the expedition to Egmont-op-Zee in the Netherlands, where British forces suffered a significant defeat on October 2, and he was severely wounded. After recovering, he was transferred to Minorca on June 22, 1800. He then led a division attached to the Austrian forces and participated in the Siege of Genoa. In October 1800, he took part in a successful show of force near Cadiz, after which he found himself in Egypt, serving under Abercromby once again. He commanded the 52nd Foot Regiment during the British campaign in Egypt against the French, becoming its honorary colonel on May 8, 1801, after the death of General Sir Ralph Abercromby. Under his command, the entire reserve of British expeditionary forces, including the 23rd Fusiliers, 40th and 28th Infantry, 42nd Highland, and 11th Dragoon Regiments, was present. He led the capture of Abukir, Cairo, and Alexandria by the 11th Dragoons and pursued the French expelled from Cairo to the coast. He remained in Egypt until the British capture of Alexandria on September 2, 1801. Returning to Britain in 1803, Moore, renowned for his military training expertise, took command of a brigade at the Shorncliffe Army Camp near Folkestone. He introduced a new system of military training for the 95th Division, which led to the establishment of the first permanent light infantry regiments in Britain. He earned a reputation as a humane commander and placed great emphasis on instilling a sense of duty in his officers and soldiers. The barracks in Winchester are now named in his honor.
War with France from 1803 to 1808
When it became clear that Napoleon Bonaparte planned to invade Britain, Moore was appointed to lead the defense of the British coastline from Dover to Dungeness. It was at his initiative that Martello towers were constructed (in addition to the already built Shorncliffe Redoubt), based on those seen in Corsica, where the towers in Mortella had provided significant resistance to British land and naval forces. He also initiated the diversion of the Royal Military Canal in Kent and Sussex (to create platforms for artillery) and the mobilization of around 340,000 volunteer militia for the defense of the South Downs, in case the invading forces breached the regular army's defenses. In 1804, Moore was knighted and promoted to lieutenant general. In 1806, he could have been sent on active duty to India but was eventually appointed as the second-in-command in Sicily, serving under General Fox. In 1808, he was transferred from the Mediterranean to the Baltic, leading a corps of 11,000 men to assist Sweden in its war against Russia. However, Moore encountered serious disagreements with the Swedish King Gustav IV. Unlike the king, who favored a defensive strategy, Moore rejected all such plans and declared that he would only participate in offensive operations. As a result, Gustav IV prohibited the English from landing in Gothenburg, where their ships had arrived, considering the presence of troops unwilling to participate in the defense of the country as useless. A serious conflict occurred during negotiations between Moore and the king, which even led to Moore's temporary arrest. However, he managed to free himself and returned to his homeland with all the forces under his command. From Britain, he was sent to Portugal.
War in Spain from 1808 to 1809
Moore assumed command of the British forces (a corps of about 35,000 soldiers) on the Iberian Peninsula on September 25, 1808, following the recall of Sir Harry Burrard, Sir Hew Dalrymple, and Arthur Wellesley, who had been executing the terms of the Convention of Sintra regarding the evacuation of French troops from Portugal. In mid-October 1808, Moore, after leaving 10,000 men to defend Portugal, led an army of 20,000 soldiers north of the Portuguese capital, Lisbon, reaching the planned assembly point near Salamanca by December 3. On November 28, 1808, upon learning of the defeat suffered by the Spanish at the Battle of Tudela against the French, he began a retreat toward Lisbon. By this time, he was aware of the uprising in Madrid and the arrival of General La Romana's Spanish troops, totaling 15,000 well-trained soldiers. Moore, therefore, decided to attack Marshal Soult, who was isolated from the main French forces, in order to disrupt Napoleon's plans and prevent French operations in southern Spain and Portugal.
On December 20, his troops joined forces with General Baird's division in Mayorga. The following day, on December 21, a battle between Moore's cavalry and two French cavalry regiments took place near Sahagun, resulting in victory for the British. Upon learning of this, Napoleon halted his advance on Seville and ordered his troops to pursue Moore, whose movements (and the strength of his forces) he knew thanks to General Dumas' division, which had already occupied Burgos. On December 24, Moore, who had previously planned to march to Burgos and join forces with the Spaniards, but now cut off from the coast, forced the French to move north. Realizing that he could not reach his objective and withstand the French due to his small force, he began retreating to Astorga and then to the ports of La Coruña and Vigo, where he planned to organize the evacuation of his small corps. As he fled from the French, he managed to defeat an Imperial Guard detachment at Benavente, capturing the notable commander Lefebvre-Desnouettes. The subsequent journey to the sea proved extremely difficult for Moore. Upon reaching La Coruña on January 11, 1809, he had to wait until January 14 for the arrival of ships for the evacuation. In La Coruña, Moore established defensive positions on the hills outside the city, covered by the 15th Hussar Regiment. When the French began their assault, the British engaged them in heavy rear-guard actions, managing to destroy over a thousand enemy soldiers. On January 16, 1809, when the British had almost completed their embarkation, Moore was mortally wounded in the Battle of Corunna. A cannonball hit his left side, tearing his body apart. After being wounded, he remained conscious for several hours and witnessed the British victory and their successful retreat from the city. His body, wrapped in a military cloak, was buried near the city's fortifications.
