The first expedition consisted of some 1,600 troops, under the orders of
General Beresford, which were transported to Buenos Aires by a fleet
under Admiral Home Popham. On June 27, 1806, Buenos Aires was captured.
The Viceroy, Sobremonte, demonstrated remarkably little warlike ardour,
fleeing in haste before the advancing British. A French naval officer in
the service of the Spanish, Don Santiago Liniers, organized an army of
relief at Montevideo, to which all the South American volunteers,
officers and troops, flocked. The local forces, now powerfully
recruited, crossed the River Plate, attacked Buenos Aires, and won the
city back for the Spanish Crown on August 12. Admiral Popham,
notwithstanding this, remained in the River Plate with his fleet, and,
having blockaded the estuary, received reinforcements from the Cape of
Good Hope. By means of these the town of Maldonado was captured. A
little later more important bodies of British troops arrived on the
scene. Commanded by General Auchmuty, these attacked Montevideo, which
fell into the hands of the invaders on February 3, 1807.
Determined to pursue its operations in this quarter of the world, the
British Government now despatched General Whitelocke with a formidable
army to the River Plate.
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