Juan Miguel de Vives y Feliu
# Juan Miguel de Vives y Feliu

Juan Miguel de Vives y Feliu or Joan Miquel Vives i Feliu (died 24 April 1809) was a Spanish general who commanded a division during the French Revolutionary Wars and briefly led an army in the Napoleonic Wars. He was described as a native of Girona. In 1794 he capably led a division against the French in the War of the Pyrenees. He led his division at the battles of Boulou and the Black Mountain in the eastern Pyrenees. In 1796 he was posted to Cartagena and in 1799 he became Captain General of Mallorca.

Soon after the outbreak of the Peninsular War in 1808, the Spanish Junta named him Captain General of Catalonia. In the summer and fall of 1808, de Vives was in charge of the blockade of Barcelona and its French Imperial garrison led by Guillaume Philibert Duhesme. He failed to take vigorous action against Barcelona and was defeated by a second column of French troops under Laurent Gouvion Saint-Cyr at the battles of Cardadeu and Molins de Rey in December. Replaced in army command by Theodor Reding, he was appointed to another post when he died at Ciudad Rodrigo.

## Commentary

When writing about his Peninsular War service, historian David G. Chandler called Vives "an aged, overcautious, Anglophobic booby".

