Gabriel de Mendizábal Iraeta

Gabriel María de Mendizábal Yraeta, 1st Count of Cuadro de Alba de Tormes (also Iraeta by his maternal name; 14 May 1765 – 1 September 1838) was a Spanish general officer.

Military career

He first saw action during the War of the Pyrenees. Mendizábal fought on the Basque-Navarrese and Catalan fronts.

Promoted to captain in 1791, in 1794 as a sergeant major, and second in command of the Battalion of Volunteers of Guipúzcoa he saw action in several battles under General Ricardos.

In 1793, he was promoted to the rank of colonel and was given command of a new regiment, the Voluntarios de Burgos posted to the north of Portugal. Due to the Spanish military disaster at Irún at the end of the Battle of the Baztan Valley in 1794, he was transferred to western Gipuzkoa with the inferior rank of First Comandante. On 2 December 1794, he commanded a joint Álavan, Gipuzkoan and Biscayan militia to achieve a victory in his home town of Bergara over French troops.

In 1802, Mendizábal was again promoted to the rank of colonel and given the command of a regiment of volunteers from Navarre. On 23 September 1804, he entered Bilbao at the head of his troops to put an end to a series of riots collectively known as the Zamacolada.

Peninsular War

In April 1809, Mendizábal was promoted to mariscal de campo, for his action at Villafranca del Bierzo (March).