General Dupont, following Napoleon’s orders, moves along with his troops from Vitoria to Cádiz in order to free a French float that had been retained. Passing through Córdoba, he is attacked by a small Spanish army, that he managed to defeat, allowing his men to ransack the city as a reward.
Consequently, the fleet meant to be rescued was attacked, and thus Dupont’s original objective and reason for this trip vanished. In addition, the Supreme Provincial Board of Sevilla, recently created, was organizing an important army, which unsettled Dupont, all but stopping his advance and causing him to request Madrid for back up.
Days later, fearful, Dupont pulls back all the way to Andújar, where back up from the Generals Vedel and Gobert awaited. Meanwhile, the General Castaños develops the plan called “Plan of Porcuna”, with which he intended to attack Dupont’s army.
Not long after, the historic event would take place, when Castaños being near Andújar unnerved Dupont and caused him to retreat on Bailen’s direction the night of the 18th of July. His decision was a direct consequence of the situation he found himself at, considering that a confrontation taking place in Mengíbar between a small number of men pertaining to General Reding, and the troops under Vedel and Gobert’s charge, causes the loss of the later and the retreat of the french towards La Carolina and Santa Elena. Dupont found himself without any sort of protection in Bailén, leaving them vulnerable to Reding and Castaños’ troops.
Indeed, Dupont’s fears were founded and confirmed on the early hours of the 19th of July’s morning in Bailén, when his soldiers stumbled upon Reding’s, who had camped there in order to head towards Andújar where the attack was originally meant to take place according to Castaños’ plan.
