Jose Antonio Rosa (1768-) was a general of Portugal during the Peninsular War.
Biography[]
Rosa was an artillerist of the Portuguese Army before becoming a general during the Peninsular War, commanding Portuguese troops in the resistance against the invasion by France (1808-1814).
Rosa commanded a major Portuguese army in the Extremadura region, but was defeated in the Battle of Estremadura in early April 1811 by France's Marshal Jean-Andre Massena and he fled as his army collapsed. Rosa failed to prevent a French cavalry attack that shattered his right wing, and the Portuguese cavalry was repulsed in their attempt to emulate the French strategy. Rosa was nearly killed in the battle, and he fled with only one other of his bodyguards; the rest lay dead on the field with thousands of his soldiers.
In 1812-1813, Rosa was key in capturing rebel guerrilla settlements in central Spain and handing them over to the Spanish resistance, although at times Portugal was not allied with Spain. At war's end in early June 1813, he was in the Pyrenees with a large army.