coast. Fiasco at Tarragona Soon after, Wellington ordered Murray to move by sea to capture the port of Tarragona. By this manoeuvre, Wellington intended to distract Suchet from his summer offensive (this ended in victory in the Battle of Vitoria). Rear-Admiral Benjamin Hallowell Carew put Murray's 16,000 men ashore six miles south of Tarragona on 2 June. Joined by Spanish Major-General Francisco Copons with 7,000 men, the Allies quickly invested the 1,600-man Franco-Italian garrison of Brigadier-General Bertoletti. Thus began the Siege of Tarragona's comedy of errors. Bertoletti quickly pulled most of his men into the inner defences, leaving token garrisons in two outworks. Rather than storm these, Murray chose to reduce them by siege. By 7 June, his siege guns had reduced one of the two forts to rubble. Meanwhile, Major-General Charles Decaen sent Major-General Maurice Mathieu with 6,000 men south from Barcelona to interfere with the siege. At the same time, Suchet marched 8,000 men north from Valencia toward Tarragona. Soon, a Spanish move against Valencia caused the southern column to be recalled. Mathieu bumped into Copons's pickets, found that he was facing a combined force of 23,000 men and quickly backpedalled. By this time, Murray had been driven into a state of panic by rumours of the two French relief columns. He cancelled a planned 11 June attack on the small outwork and ordered his supplies to be taken aboard ship. Later, he decided to withdraw his entire force. Issuing a stream of orders that confused everyone and enraged Hallowell, Murray finally got his entire force aboard ship after spiking and abandoning the eighteen heavy siege cannon. Copons was advised to flee to the mountains. Once safely aboard, Murray determined to land at a different place on 15 June. Soon, confusion again reigned. In despair, Hallowell wrote, "the debarkation and the re-embarkation continually going on was enough to confound any operation in the world." Mathieu finally marched into Tarragona on 16 June. The appearance of these fresh troops caused Murray to give up his plans again, and his thwarted expedition returned to Alicante. He was relieved of command on 18 June. Later career After the war ended in 1814, Murray was court-martialled for his conduct before Tarragona. The court acquitted him of all charges except one: he was found guilty of abandoning his guns without due cause and admonished by the court. Acting as though he was cleared