The Count of Ericeira – simultaneously a contemporaneous chronicler and a top military leader who participated on the Badajoz siege – wrote that the initial Portuguese army besieging Badajoz had 17,000 men (História de Portugal Restaurado, 1657-1662, pages 97-98 in the 1751 edition, or page 90 in the 1698 edition) and he adds that, after the siege, the returning army had 9,000 men of infantry plus 1,800 horsemen (p. 135 in the 1751 edition, or page 133 in the 1946 edition). The difference is 6,200 missing men (dead by the plague, dead in combat and deserters). Most of the dead were not killed in combat, but by disease (plague): “…the army defeated by the power of sickness…”, in Ericeira, História de Portugal Restaurado, (1657-1662), page 133 in the 1751 edition, or page 124 in the 1698 edition.
Usually, sick men are not considered "losses" since it is impossible to determine the number of those who did survive and those who didn’t.
Facing the imminent arrival of an army led by D. Luis de Haro, the Portuguese troops opted by withdrawing to Elvas and waiting for the Spanish.The confrontation occurred in January 1659, and was a thunderous disaster to D. Luis…the military setback, which added to the disastrous situation of the Netherlands, forced Madrid to seek peace with France. in Valladares, Rafael- La Rebelión de Portugal 1640-1680, Junta de Castilla Y León, Consejería de Educación y Cultura, 1998, page 163
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The Count of Ericeira – simultaneously a contemporaneous chronicler and a top military leader who participated on the Badajoz siege – wrote that the initial Portuguese army besieging Badajoz had 17,000 men (História de Portugal Restaurado, 1657-1662, pages 97-98 in the 1751 edition, or page 90 in the 1698 edition) and he adds that, after the siege, the returning army had 9,000 men of infantry plus 1,800 horsemen (p. 135 in the 1751 edition, or page 133 in the 1946 edition). The difference is 6,200 missing men (dead by the plague, dead in combat and deserters). Most of the dead were not killed in combat, but by disease (plague): “…the army defeated by the power of sickness…”, in Ericeira, História de Portugal Restaurado, (1657-1662), page 133 in the 1751 edition, or page 124 in the 1698 edition.
Usually, sick men are not considered "losses" since it is impossible to determine the number of those who did survive and those who didn’t.
Facing the imminent arrival of an army led by D. Luis de Haro, the Portuguese troops opted by withdrawing to Elvas and waiting for the Spanish.The confrontation occurred in January 1659, and was a thunderous disaster to D. Luis…the military setback, which added to the disastrous situation of the Netherlands, forced Madrid to seek peace with France. in Valladares, Rafael- La Rebelión de Portugal 1640-1680, Junta de Castilla Y León, Consejería de Educación y Cultura, 1998, page 163
Count of Ericeira (who was General of artillery in this battle of Elvas), page 227 in the 1751 edition or Page 222 in the 1946 edition
