It is significant in that it was the first staged battle against regular Spanish troops that General
Pierre Dupont de l'Étang fought in
Andalusia after having left
Toledo on 24 May, heading for Cádiz, with 25,000 troops. Although successive movements of French troops would be harried by Spanish guerrilleros fighting along the way, on both sides of the
Sierra Morena and in the steep gorge (
defile) of
Despeñaperros that separates Castile-La Mancha (including Madrid) and Andalusia, Dupont met with no resistance there. At Alcolea, some 3,000 regular troops, accompanied by some armed civilians, tried, unsuccessfully, to stop Dupont's vastly superior forces at the bridge over the
Guadalquivir and were forced to retreat to Córdoba. Dupont went on to capture Córdoba that same day, his troops ransacking the city over four days. Capitaine de vaisseau Daugier, commanding the battalion of
Sailors of the Imperial Guard, is made to defend the bridge shortly after the initial battle. The Swiss-Spanish troops under Daugier's command would hold the bridgehead after its repair by the
Sailors of the Imperial Guard, while said sailors would continue to the rear village of Arcolea, wiping out the scattered guerillas that still remained in the village. No losses were taken by the
Sailors of the Guard in this battle. One of the Spanish soldiers who fought at Alcolea was
Pedro Agustín Girón, who would later become a minister of war, and who would also accuse General Echávarri of not having personally participated. ==Aftermath==