A hurried march of about eighty miles brought the troops to the banks of the Tagus.  As General Staremberg, at the head of the advance guard, pressed eagerly on, he left Stanhope at quite a distance behind.  They encamped for a night, the advance at Cifuentes, the rear at Brihuega.  The hostility of the natives was such that almost all communication was cut off between the two sections of the army.  In the confusion of the hasty retreat, and as no enemy was apprehended in that portion of the way, the importance of hourly communication was forgotten.  In the morning, as Stanhope put his troops again in motion, he was surprised and alarmed in seeing upon the hills before him the banners of an opposing host, far outnumbering his own, and strongly intrenched.  The Earl of Stanhope at once appreciated the nearly utter hopelessness of his position.  He was cut off from the rest of the army, had no artillery, but little ammunition, and was almost entirely destitute of provision.  Still he scorned to surrender.  He threw his troops behind a stone wall, and vigorously commenced fortifying his position, hoping to be able to hold out until Staremberg, hearing of his situation, should come to his release.

During the whole day he beat back the assaults of the Spanish army.  In the meantime Staremberg was pressing on to Barcelona.  In the evening of that day he heard of the peril of his rear guard.  His troops were exhausted; the night of pitchy blackness, and the miry roads, cut to pieces by the heavy artillery and baggage wagons, were horrible.  Through the night he made preparations to turn back to aid his beleaguered friends.  It was, however, midday before he could collect his scattered troops, from their straggling march, and commence retracing his steps.  In a few hours the low sun of a November day sunk below the hills.  The troops, overtaken by darkness, stumbling through the gloom, and apprehensive of a midnight attack, rested upon their arms, waiting, through the weary hours, for the dawn of the morning.  The second day came, and the weary troops toiled through the mire, while Stanhope, from behind his slight parapet, baffled all the efforts of his foes.

The third morning dawned.  Staremberg was within some fifteen miles of Briehuga.  Stanhope had now exhausted all his ammunition.  The inhabitants of the town rose against him and attacked him in the rear, while the foe pressed him in front.  A large number of his troops had already fallen, and no longer resistance was possible.  Stanhope and the remnant of his band were taken captive and conducted into the town of Briehuga.  Staremberg, unaware of the surrender, pushed on until he came within a league of Briehuga.  Anxiously he threw up signals, but could obtain no response.  His fears of the worst were soon confirmed by seeing the Spanish army, in brilliant battle array, approaching to assail him.  Philip himself was there to animate them by his presence; and the heroic French general, the Duke of Vendome, a descendant of Henry IV., led the charging columns.