Battle of Venta de Echavarri

Part of First Carlist War

Date	28 October 1834
Location	near Álava, Basque Country, Spain
Result	Carlist victory

Belligerents

Carlists supporting

Infante Carlos of Spain

Liberals (Isabelinos or Cristinos) supporting
Isabella II of Spain and her regent mother Maria Christina

Commanders and leaders

Tomás de Zumalacárregui
Manuel Iturralde

Joaquín de Osma

Strength

3,000

Casualties and losses

500 dead, 450 captured

Carlists supporting

The Battle of Venta de Echavarri (Spanish: Acción de la Venta de Echavarri or Batalla de la Venta de Echavarri, literally the Battle of the Inn of Echavarri), a battle of the First Carlist War, occurred on October 28, 1834. It was an immediate follow-up to the Battle of Alegría de Álava, which had occurred the day before. It was a Carlist victory.

In the aftermath of the Battle of Alegría de Álava on October 27, the Carlists searched the forests between Chinchetru and Alegría de Álava for Liberal troops who had survived the battle and were now hiding. Liberals who were discovered were executed on the spot.

The Carlists captured the two pieces of artillery that had belonged to the Liberal army, along with corresponding munitions and the regimental banner of the Liberal Regiment of Africa. Manuel O'Doyle and other Liberal officers surrendered, and were executed by firing squad the next day.

However, 250 Liberal troops and their officers maintained order and reached Arrieta by forced march, 3 km away from the field of battle, and they fortified themselves in the church at Arrieta. There they fought against the Carlists who pursued them all during the night.

News of this action at Arrieta led Osma to the decision to send soldiers to the rescue of the troops at Arrieta the next morning, which would lead to the Battle of Venta de Echavarri.

Zumalacárregui took advantage of his knowledge of the terrain to trick his enemy, luring the Liberals to places more suited to the guerrilla tactics of the Carlists than the maneuvers of the Isabeline regulars. The terrain of the battle was laid out as such: leaving Vitoria for the old royal road towards the East, one crosses a plain for 12 kilometers, flanked on the right or South by the foothills of the range of Andia and on the left or North by the range of San Adrián. The Zadorra River, coming from the East, runs close to the range of San Adrián. The plain slopes gently from the south to the north, and rises, almost imperceptibly, towards the east.

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Wikipedia