Ramon Cabrera

He was born at Tortosa, province of Tarragona, Spain. As his family had in their gift two chaplaincies, young Cabrera was sent to the seminary of Tortosa, where he made himself conspicuous as an unruly pupil, ever mixed up in disturbances and careless in his studies. After he had taken minor orders, the bishop refused to ordain him as a priest, telling him that the Church was not his vocation, and that everything in him showed that he ought to be a soldier. Cabrera followed this advice and took part in Carlist conspiracies on the death of Ferdinand VII of Spain. The authorities exiled him and he absconded to Morella to join the forces of the pretender Don Carlos.\n', '

In this First Carlist War (1833–1839) he rose in a very short time by sheer daring, fanaticism and ferocity to the front rank among the Carlist chiefs who led the bands of Don Carlos in Catalonia, Aragon and Valencia. He…