Tomás de Zumalacárregui Tomás de Zumalacárregui e Imaz ( in Castilian / Spanish ) or Tomas Zumalakarregi Imatz ( in modern standardized Basque ) ( 1788 – 1835 ) was a Basque Carlist general . From Peninsula War to Ferdinand VII . Zumalacárregui was born at Ormaiztegi in Gipuzkoa , a basque historic province in the Basque Country , on 29 December 1788 . His father , Francisco Antonio de Zumalacárregui , was a lawyer who possessed some property , and the son was articled to a solicitor . When the French invasion of Spain took place in 1808 he enlisted at Zaragoza . He served in the first siege , at the Battle of Tudela , and during the second siege until he was taken prisoner in a sortie . He succeeded in escaping and in reaching his family in Navarre . For a short time he served with Gaspar de Jáuregui , another Gipuzkoan known as " The Shepherd " ( " El Pastor " ) , one of the minor guerrilla leaders . But Zumalacárregui , who was noted for his grave and silent disposition and his strong religious principles , disliked the disorderly life of the guerrillas , and when regular forces were organized in the north he entered the 1st battalion of Gipuzkoa as an officer . During the remainder of the war he served in the regular army . In 1812 he was sent with dispatches to the Regency at Cádiz , and received his commission as captain . In that rank he was present at the battle of San Marcial foist of August 1813 . After the restoration of Ferdinand VII he continued in the army , and is said to have made a careful study of the theory of war . During Ferdinand VII rule . Zumalacárregui had no sympathy with the liberal principles which were spreading in Spain , and became noted as what was called a Servil or strong Royalist . He attracted no attention at headquarters , and was still a captain when the Revolution of 1820 broke out . His brother officers , whose leanings were liberal , denounced him to the revolutionary government , and asked that he might be removed . The recommendation was not acted on , but Zumalacárregui knew of it , and laid up the offence in his mind . Finding that he was suspected ( probably with truth ) of an intention to bring the soldiers over to the royalist side , he escaped to France . In 1823 he returned as an officer in one of the royalist regiments which had been organized on French soil by the consent of the government . He was now known as a thoroughly trustworthy servant of the royalty , but he was too proud to be a courtier . For some years he was employed in bringing regiments which the government distrusted to order . He became lieutenant - colonel in 1825 and colonel in 1829 . In 1832 he was named military governor of Ferrol in Galicia . Before Ferdinand VII died in 1833 , Zumalacárregui was marked out as a natural supporter of the traditionalist party which favoured the king ' s brother , Carlos . The Carlist War . The proclamation of the king ' s daughter Isabel as heiress was almost the occasion of an armed conflict between him and the naval authorities at Ferrol , who were partisans of the liberal and so - called " constitutional " cause . He was put on half pay by the new authorities and ordered to live under police observation at Pamplona in Navarre . When the Carlist uprising began on the death of Ferdinand VII , he is said to have held back because he knew that the first leaders would be politicians and talkers . He did not take the field till the Carlist cause appeared to be at a very low ebb , and until he had received a commission from Don Carlos as commander - in - chief in Navarre . The whole force under his orders when he escaped from Pamplona on the night of 29 October 1833 , and took the command next day in the Araquil Valley , was a few hundred ill - armed and dispirited guerrilleros . In a few months Zumalacárregui had organized the Carlist forces into a regular army . The difficulty he found in obtaining supplies was very great , for the coast towns and notably Bilbao support the " Cristino " ( liberal ) cause . It was mainly by captures from the government troops that he equipped his forces . He gradually obtained full possession of Navarre and the three historic provinces of the Basque Country , outside of the fortresses , which he had not the means to besiege . He organized the forces known as aduaneros and the Guías de Navarra . His chief bodyguard , and later biographer , was Charles Frederick Henningsen . Whether as a guerrilla leader , or as a general conducting regular war in the mountains , he proved unconquerable . He won the battles of Alsasua , Alegría de Álava , and Venta de Echavarri , for example , by employing guerrilla tactics . By July 1834 he had made it safe for Don Carlos to join his headquarters . Zumalacárregui was by then strongly envied by the courtiers that surrounded the pretender , as well as by other military officers . Besides , Don Carlos was a somewhat naïve and easily suggestible man , and Zumalacárregui had therefore to drag behind him the whole weight of the distrust and intrigues of the court . Yet by the beginning of June 1835 he had made the Carlist cause triumphant to the north of the Ebro , and had formed an army of more than 30 , 000 men , of much better quality than the constitutional forces . He won the battle of Artaza ( 20 – 22 April 1835 ) . If Zumalacárregui had been allowed to follow his own plans , which were to concentrate his forces and march on Madrid , firstly seizing Logroño ( La Rioja , Castile ) , he might well have put Don Carlos in possession of the capital . But the court was eager to obtain command of a seaport , because they thought this will facilitate the official recognition of Don Carlos as the legitimate heir to the Spanish Throne by other European courts . Thus , Zumalacárregui was ordered to besiege Bilbao . He obeyed reluctantly , and on the 14th of June 1835 was wounded by a musket bullet in the calf of the leg near the Basilica of Begoña . The wound was trifling and would probably have been cured with ease , but Zumalacárregui decided to employ a famous Gipuzkoan quack called " Petriquillo " , whom he trusted . Petriquillo proceeded to remove the bullet from Zumalacárregui ' s leg , provoking a great loss of blood and probably an infection . Don Carlos had insisted on sending his own physicians , but they hesitated about the best prognosis to follow , losing precious time and failing to stop Petriquillo from trying his " procedure " ( he acted when they were not present ) and in their hands the general died on 24 June 1835 , not without suspicion of poison and after Petriquillo had hastily left the place . Zumalacárregui was a fine type of the old royalist and religious principles of his people . The Carlist forces under his command were repeatedly refused quarter by the government ' s forces ( which for years didn ' t recognize them as legitimate combatants ) . The increasing ferocity of the war , substantiated in routine executions of Carlist soldiers and officers , convinced him of the necessity of a similar retaliation against the liberal forces . Zumalacárregui , however , would later sign the Lord Eliot Convention , shortly before his own death , which aimed to end the indiscriminate executions by firing squad of prisoners of both sides . Popularity . The most trustful and complete account of Zumalacarregui ' s carlist campaign can be found in Juan Antonio de Zaratiegui y Celigüeta ' s " Vida y hechos de Don Tomás de Zumalacárregui " . Zaratiegui was his personal assistant , secretary and friend throughout the war , and also himself an important carlist military officer . An engaging account of Zumalacárregui will be found in " The Most Striking Events of a Twelvemonth Campaign with Zumalacarregui in Navarre and the Basque Provinces " , by C . F . Henningsen ( London , 1836 ) . A chap - book called " " Vida política y militar de Don Tomás Zumalacárregui " " , which gives the facts of his life with fair accuracy , is very popular in Spain . Of Zumalacárregui , Henningsen writes : Zumalacárregui in the " Episodios nacionales " . Zumalacárregui is the main character of an eponymous " Episodio nacional " , by Benito Pérez Galdós . He is portrayed like an intelligent man and an excellent strategist who fights for what he believes in .