Fernando de Cagigal de la Vega y Martínez Niño, 4th Marquis of Casa Cagigal (1756–1824) was a Spanish soldier, poet, and playwright.
[1] His father, Felipe Cagigal de la Vega y Niño, 3rd Marquis of Casa Cagigal, was Captain general of Extremadura and a member of the War Council and his mother was Teresa Mac Swing y Pacheco.
Cagigal was commissioned as a captain, an entry rank reserved for members of families with a proven aristocratic or military lineage,[2] in the "Spain" Cavalry Regiment, eventually becoming its commanding officer before being transferred to the Queen's Regiment and promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1782,[2] first seeing action at Mahón in 1782,[2] before participating at blockading Gibraltar between December 1787 to May 1790,[2] when he was sent to join Spain's Rousillon Army.
At the start of the War of the Pyrenees he was promoted to colonel and transferred to the Algarbe Cavalry Regiment in 1793, later that year being promoted to brigadier, seeing action on several occasions that year, including at the First Battle of Sant Llorenç de la Muga,[2] serving under the orders of both Francisco Solano and general Antonio Cornel.
[2] In June 1794, General Ricardos gave him the command of the Cavalry at Millas, in Arrondissement of Perpignan, where Cagigal distinguished himself during the French attack on the village and five days later, at the head of 500 grenadiers and 120 horse he again fought off a French attack there.