page_title: Battle of Alegría de Álava
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Alegría de Álava / Background
caption_attribution_description: Carta de O'Doyle a Osma. 26.10.1834. Reverso
context_page_description: The Battle of Alegría de Álava, a battle of the First Carlist War, occurred on October 27, 1834 at a field in Chinchetru, next to Alegría de Álava, Álava, Spain. It was a Carlist victory.
  Carlist forces were led by Tomás de Zumalacárregui, who ambushed Isabeline troops under Manuel O'Doyle.
context_section_description: The Isabeline (Liberal) army under José Ramón Rodil, after a disastrous campaign during the summer of 1834, had attempted to destroy Zumalacárregui's army and arrest Infante Carlos, Count of Molina.  However, Rodil's forces had been reduced by the Carlists by September 1834. Rodil was forced to give up command to Manuel Lorenzo. Rodil marched towards Madrid, taking with him as escort, as he approached Vitoria-Gasteiz, a division led by O'Doyle, which had belonged to the Liberal Army of Navarre.  Rodil, without authorization, placed O'Doyle's troops under the command of Joaquín de Osma, commander-general of the Basque Provinces and who was based at Vitoria.
  The Isabeline troops of Navarre, thus reduced, were unable to keep up with the rapid movements of Zumalacárregui's army.  Zumalacárregui approached the Ebro with the intention of attacking the Riojan place known as Ezcaray, 40 km south of the river.  Ezcaray was the site of important factories producing cotton cloths; Zumalacárregui wanted this cloth in order to create winter uniforms for his troops.  Zumalacárregui's scouts explored this area to carry out this plan.  Zumalacárregui meanwhile received information on October 20, 1834 that a convoy of arms was traveling from Burgos to Logroño and that it would use the nearby royal road (camino real) as it neared the Ebro.
  Zumalacárregui attempted to pursue the convoy on October 21 with four battalions and three squadrons, and he crossed the Ebro at Tronconegro.  However, the convoy by now had passed.  Zumalacárregui rapidly marched in pursuit of the convoy, but he was stopped at Cenicero by the urban militia there, which supported the Liberals and who were stationed at the church of Cenicero.  Zumalacárregui was forced to go around the town and his cavalry managed to reach the convoy, which was in sight of Logroño.  Zumalacárregui captured this rich booty, burned down the church of Cenicero, crossed the Ebro on October 22 at Tronconegro, and marched towards Navarre.  His troops were then stationed in towns in the valley of Berrueza.
  On October 21, at the last minute, the Liberals at Vitoria received news of Zumalacárregui's incursion, and Osma ordered O'Doyle to march on the Ebro with his division, composed of the Queen's First and Second Regiments, the First African Regiment, the First and Second Regiments of Carabiniers, and the battalion of Bujalance.  O'Doyle was ordered to march on the Ebro at Peñacerrada to cut Zumalacárregui off.
  O'Doyle reached Peñacerrada on October 22, during the afternoon, and learned that the Carlists were north of the Ebro.  O'Doyle marched the next day through the valley of the Ega River, and his troops rested for the night at Lagrán.  On the 24th, the Liberals reached Maeztu.  The Liberal troops, exhausted and short on supplies, rested for a full day, the 25th.  On the 26th of October, the troops left Maetzu, crossed the ridge of Andia, and after marching for 22 km, reached Alegría de Álava.
  Osma then ordered O’Doyle to disperse the Liberal divisions; the only troops that should remain at Alegría de Álava would be the Queen's First Regiment, First African Regiment, some of the cavalry, and two pieces of artillery, with the rest of the troops cantoned at Guevara (Gebara), Arroyabe, and Ullíbarri-Gamboa (Uribarri-Ganboa), locations that were 6, 12, and 13 km north of Alegría de Álava, respectively. 
  O'Doyle disagreed with this order, and consulted his regimental captains, who also thought it was a bad idea.  But they carried out the order, abandoning Alegría de Álava and occupying the aforementioned villages.  O'Doyle wrote a letter to Osma, expressing his concern with the order.
   
  Zumalacárregui, meanwhile, was in the valley of La Berrueza, 48 km south of Alegría de Álava, and had in his sights, the Liberal troops at Los Arcos of General Lorenzo, who was waiting for reinforcements coming from Cirauqui led by Marcelino de Oraá Lecumberri. Zumalacárregui's aduaneros (customs officers) were watching the movements of the Liberal troops, and thus Zumalacárregui was well informed. The aduaneros w
caption: Back of the letter.
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