The Guías de Navarra were a Carlist battalion of the First Carlist War

First Carlist War

The First Carlist War was a civil war in Spain from 1833-1839.-Historical background:At the beginning of the 18th century, Philip V, the first Bourbon king of Spain, promulgated the Salic Law, which declared illegal the inheritance of the Spanish crown by women...

, created by Zumalacárregui in 1834.

Their name was a misnomer

Misnomer

A misnomer is a term which suggests an interpretation that is known to be untrue. Such incorrect terms sometimes derive their names because of the form, action, or origin of the subject becoming named popularly or widely referenced—long before their true natures were known.- Sources of misnomers...

: they were neither Navarrese nor guides, but captured Liberal troops from La Mancha

La Mancha

La Mancha is a natural and historical region or greater comarca located on an arid, fertile, elevated plateau of central Spain, south of Madrid, stretching between the Montes de Toledo and the western spurs of the Serrania de Cuenca. It is bounded on the south by the Sierra Morena and on the north...

, Valencia

Valencia (province)

Valencia or València is a province of Spain, in the central part of the Valencian Community.It is bordered by the provinces of Alicante, Albacete, Cuenca, Teruel, Castellón, and the Mediterranean Sea...

, Andalusia

Andalusia

Andalusia is the most populous and the second largest in area of the autonomous communities of Spain. The Andalusian autonomous community is officially recognised as a nationality of Spain. The territory is divided into eight provinces: Huelva, Seville, Cádiz, Córdoba, Málaga, Jaén, Granada and...

 and other places who had been made prisoners at the Battle of Alsasua

Battle of Alsasua

The Battle of Alsasua, also known as the Battle of Altsasu or la Acción de la Venta, was a battle that occurred on April 22, 1834 during the First Carlist War. Carlist general Tomás de Zumalacárregui destroyed a convoy led by the Liberal general Vicente Genaro de Quesada traveling from...

 (April 22, 1834). After this battle, they had been faced with the choice of joining the Carlist troops or being executed. They were given distinctive red berets that had initially been rejected by other Carlist troops as headgear.

The Carlist troops had lacked a regular uniform and had used instead the black beret that was already worn in the Basque region

Basque Country (historical territory)

The Basque Country is the name given to the home of the Basque people in the western Pyrenees that spans the border between France and Spain on the Atlantic coast....

. Zumalacárregui gave these troops distinctive red berets, purchased in France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, as a type of uniform. At first, the red berets were accepted with joy by Carlist officers, but they then realized that Liberal sharpshooters found the red berets to be a good target. The red berets were thus retired and hidden in a house in Eulate

Eulate

Eulate is a town and municipality located in the province and autonomous community of Navarre, northern Spain.-External links:*...

. When he created the Guías de Navarra, Zumalacárregui ordered that these red berets be brought to him and given to this new battalion, which was, in any case, used for the most dangerous missions.

The battalion was officered by Carlist volunteers from abroad. The Guías de Navarra were utilized for the most dangerous or risky missions, and Zumalacárregui soon favored them. Serving the battalion as an officer soon became considered an honor by the Carlists. After the death of Zumalacárregui, the prestige accorded this battalion meant that it was no longer used for the most dangerous missions.

They participated in the Battle of Alegría de Álava

Battle of Alegría de Álava

The Battle of Alegría de Álava , a battle of the First Carlist War, occurred on October 27, 1834 at the field called Chinchetru, at Alegría de Álava, Álava, Spain...

 (October 27, 1834).

The Guías de Navarra were fully integrated in 1836 into the Carlist army as a regular battalion.

Description, equipment, and uniforms

The Álbum de las tropas carlistas del ejército del norte states that they were a battalion of 800 men and that their uniform consisted of a gray casaquilla (a kind of short and loose jacket with sleeves, which was worn over other clothes) with a yellow series of holes for the buttons on the breast of the check; a red beret; a bag; and alpargatas, a sort of light sandal made of hemp

Hemp

Hemp is mostly used as a name for low tetrahydrocannabinol strains of the plant Cannabis sativa, of fiber and/or oilseed varieties. In modern times, hemp has been used for industrial purposes including paper, textiles, biodegradable plastics, construction, health food and fuel with modest...

. Their weapons were a rifle

Rifle

A rifle is a firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder, with a barrel that has a helical groove or pattern of grooves cut into the barrel walls. The raised areas of the rifling are called "lands," which make contact with the projectile , imparting spin around an axis corresponding to the...

, bayonet

Bayonet

A bayonet is a knife, dagger, sword, or spike-shaped weapon designed to fit in, on, over or underneath the muzzle of a rifle, musket or similar weapon, effectively turning the gun into a spear...

, and bandolier

Bandolier

A bandolier or a bandoleer is a pocketed belt for holding ammunition. It was usually slung over the chest. In its original form, it was common issue to soldiers from the 16th to 18th centuries. This was very useful for quickly reloading a musket....

.

According to Alexis Sabatier, their yellow buttonholes on their gray cloaks caused soldiers from the other battalions to call the Guías de Navarra sardinas ("sardines").

Sources

• Álbum de las tropas carlistas del ejército del norte. Madrid
  Madrid
  Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
  
  , sin fecha. (184?).
• Juan Antonio Zaratiegui. Vida y hechos de don Tomás de Zumalacárregui. San Sebastián
  San Sebastián
  Donostia-San Sebastián is a city and municipality located in the north of Spain, in the coast of the Bay of Biscay and 20 km away from the French border. The city is the capital of Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. The municipality’s population is 186,122 , and its...
  
  , 1946.
• C.F. Henningsen. Campaña de doce meses en Navarra y las Provincias Vascongadas con el General Zumalacárregui. Madrid 1935.
• Alexis Sabatier. "Tío Tomás". Burdeos 1836