Francisco Espoz y Mina

Who was Francisco Espoz y Mina?

Francisco Espoz Ilundáin, 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 1st 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 guerrillero, was in fact a brigand. The national government in Cadiz gave him rank, and by September 7th 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.