Francisco Espoz y Mina Francisco Espoz Ilundáin ( 17 June 1781 – 24 December 1836 ) , being better known as Francisco Espoz y Mina , was a Spanish guerrilla leader and general . He was born in Idocin in Navarre . His father , Juan Esteban Espoz y Mina , and his mother , Maria Teresa Hundain y Ardaiz , belonged to the class of yeomen . Mina worked on the small family farm until 1808 . When Napoleon endeavoured to seize Spain in that year he enlisted in the Doyle regiment , and then entered the guerrilla group commanded by his nephew Francisco Javier Mina . When Javier was captured by the French on 21 March 1810 , seven men of the group chose to follow Francisco , and on April 1 of the same year the Junta of Aragon gave him the command of the guerrilleros of Navarre . His first act was to arrest and shoot at Estella a certain Echevarria , who , under pretence of being a patriotic guerrillero , was in fact a brigand . The national government in Cadiz gave him rank , and by September 7 , 1812 he had been promoted to the rank of commander - in - chief in Upper Aragon , on the left bank of the Ebro . In the interval he claimed that he had fought 143 actions big and little , had been repeatedly wounded with bullet , sword and lance , had taken 13 fortified posts , and 14 , 000 prisoners , and had never been surprised by the French . Though some maintain that he was not at his best as a leader in battle , as a strategist Espoz y Mina was very successful and displayed great organizing capacity . The French authorities were compelled to allow him to levy customs dues on all goods imported into Spain , except contraband of war , which he would not allow to pass without fighting . The money thus obtained was used to pay his bands a regular salary . He was able to avoid levying excessive contributions on the country and to maintain discipline among his men , whom he had brought to a respectable state of efficiency in 1812 . Espoz y Mina claimed that he immobilized 26 , 000 French troops which would but for him have served with Marshal Marmont in the Salamanca campaign . In the campaign of 1813 and 1814 he served with distinction under the Duke of Wellington . After the restoration of Ferdinand VII he fell into disfavour . On 25 and 26 September he attempted to bring about a rising at Pamplona in favor of the Liberal party , but failed , and went into exile . His political opinions were democratic and radical , and as a yeoman he disliked the " hidalgos " ( nobles ) . The Revolution of 1820 brought him back , and he served the Liberal party during the Trienio Liberal in Galicia , Leon and Catalonia . In this last district he made the only vigorous resistance to the French intervention in favor of Ferdinand VII . On 1 November 1823 he was compelled to capitulate , and the French allowed him to escape to England by sea . In 1830 he took part in an unsuccessful rising against Ferdinand . On the death of the king he was recalled to Spain , and the government of the regent Christina gave him the command against the Carlists in 1835 , though they feared his Radicalism . By this time , years , exposure and wounds had undermined his health . He was also opposed to Tomás de Zumalacárregui , an old officer of his in the War of Independence , and an even greater master of irregular mountain warfare . His health compelled him to resign in April 1835 , and his later command in Catalonia was only memorable for the part he took in forcing the regent to grant a constitution in August 1836 . He died at Barcelona on 24 December 1836 . In 1825 Espoz y Mina published " A Short Extract from the Life of General Mina " , in Spanish and English , in London . Mention is made of him in all histories of the affairs of Spain during the first third of the 19th century . His full " Memoirs " were published by his widow at Madrid in 1851 - 1852 . The Plaza de Mina in Cadiz , Spain is named after him .