Tomás de Morla y Pacheco

Captain-General Tomás Bruno de Morla Pacheco (9 July 1747 – 6 December 1811) was a Spanish Army officer who served in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.

Early life Tomás was born in Jerez de la Frontera in 1747. He was the son of Tomas de Morla and Maria Pacheco. He entered the Artillery Academy at Segovia in 1764, graduating the following year as a sub-lieutenant in that institution's first graduating class. In 1808, following the Dos de Mayo Uprising against the French, Morla took action against a French naval squadron in Cádiz Bay, forcing its surrender in June. The following month he led forces from Cádiz at the Battle of Bailén, when the Spanish army defeated a French advance into Andalusia.

In September 1808, Morla was sent to Madrid as director-general of artillery and a member of the Supreme War Junta. There, he started preparing the fortifications of the city, including the mountain passes on its approaches. Together with the captain general of New Castile, Marquis of Castelar, Morla was in charge of defending the capital. However, with Napoleon rapidly approaching with a large force, the Marquis abandoned the city, taking some five thousand troops and sixteen cannon with him to join General José Heredia y Velarde Following orders from the Junta of Defence, Morla was left to capitulate to Napoleon on 4 December 1808. but clashed with the French general Pierre Dupont de l'Étang and later retired from public life. Meanwhile the Junta Suprema had branded him a traitor and stripped him of his awards and appointments.