u/Cantor_bcn

I do not know whether anyone will find this interesting. My grandfather’s grandfather’s grandfather fought in the Napoleonic Wars, during the Peninsular War, in Jimena de la Frontera, Cádiz. I know this because of a chain of premature deaths. My grandfather’s father died young, so my grandfather was raised by his grandfather. The same thing had happened one generation earlier: his father had also died young, and he had been raised by his own grandfather, Andrés Jiménez Corzano.

Andrés Jiménez Corzano was born in the late eighteenth century, near the Convent of Los Ángeles in Jimena. As a child, he was very restless, and whenever it rained, he liked jumping over puddles and small streams. One day he fell into one and came home completely soaked, so his father called him “Salta Charquitos,” roughly meaning “Little Puddle-Jumper.” He hated the nickname, so naturally everyone used it to tease him. It stuck so firmly that all his descendants, including me, are still known as “los Charquito.”

Jimena was an interesting place during the war. Its castle dominates the town and was very difficult to capture. The French entered the town several times, sometimes after intense fighting, but it seems that they never managed to take full control of the castle. Spanish commanders such as Serrano Valdenebro and General Ballesteros used it as their headquarters.

The town had also once been home to a Royal Artillery Factory and an arms factory. By the time the war began, they were no longer fully operational, but many local workers still knew how to manufacture weapons and handle gunpowder. Jimena therefore had both a strong defensive position and a population with highly useful military skills.

During the war, Andrés, my ancestor, was shot in the leg during a clash at a place called El Salado, which prevented him from continuing to fight. I have found documents describing fighting around the castle, but I have not found any formal record of a battle at El Salado itself. However, El Salado is a hill south of Jimena that overlooks the southern approach to the town along the Hozgarganta River. My guess is that French troops tried to reach Jimena from the coastal road and that the local men ambushed them there. In the end, Jimena was not taken, but the French were sore losers and burned down the church, destroying all my family’s records from before the eighteenth century.

After the war, Andrés was remembered as the only young man of marriageable age left in Jimena. He married Isabel Caballero Padilla because she was the most beautiful young woman in the town and the finest singer. At the time, being able to sing well was considered very important. In addition, since the government had no money with which to compensate Andrés for his injury, he was granted a plot of land in Jimena.

There are more stories about my ancestor, although none of the others are connected to the Napoleonic Wars. The man was quite a character.