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The Prisoners of Cabrera: Napoleon's Forgotten Soldiers, 1809-1814. By Denis Smith. Toronto: Macfarlane Walter & Ross, 2001. ISBN 1-55199-- 083-0. Maps. Photographs. Illustrations. Notes. Bibliography. Index. Pp. xviii, 219. $24.00. Available from Four Walls Eight Windows, New York, at http://www.4w8w.com.
The victory at Bailen in July 1808 delivered 17,000 French prisoners into Spanish hands. The Spanish marched them south toward the port of Cadiz, where they were held, often aboard miserable hulks anchored in the bay. The terms of capitulation called for their eventual repatriation, but for most of them it was not to be. In April, 4,500 of these unfortunates boarded transport ships, and a month later they found themselves deposited without ceremony on the tiny island of Cabrera. A dry and rocky desolation near Majorca, Cabrera was...