General Tomás de Zumalacárregui

Tomas de Zumalacarregui (1788-1835) was born in the Basque region of Spain. When the French invaded in 1808 he joined the guerillas and fought in the sieges of Saragossa. He decided that the guerilla life was not for him and he joined the regular army for the duration of the war. The military life clearly appealed as he remained in the army after Spain was liberated. What he didn't like, however, were the liberal ideals of the Spanish government and it seems that his political views prevented him advancing from the rank of captain that he had achieved during the Napoleonic Wars. However, these issues were ironed out and by 1825 he was a lieutenant-colonel in the early 1830s became military governor of the port city of Ferrol in Galicia.

When the Carlist War broke out, Zumalacarregui was a natural supporter of Don Carlos and accepted command of the forces in Navarre. Those "forces" consisted of a few units of guerillas and irregulars, but by 1835 Zumalacarregui had raised and trained up a decent army of some 30,000. He won several victories but was ordered to secure Bilbao went he wanted to march on Madrid. It was during the siege of Bilbao that Zumalacarregui was hit in the leg by a musket ball and this led to his death in June 1835.  

Zumalacarregui appears here with two soldiers from the Navarre Lancers as his bodyguard, in their rather fetching dark green and ren uniforms. Unlike General Cabrera, he doesn't have his own flag and I've given him a generic Carlist one.  I'm going to finish catching up on my First Carlist War pieces and will then probably try to get to grips with my Frostgrave stuff. Also recently finished are more French Napoleonics for 1815. 

Three figures. Painted December 2025. Flag from Adolfo Ramos.