The younger of the Espejo brothers, also known as Espejo II, entered the service of Russia in 1821, with the rank of Lieutenant at the age of twenty-five. As soon as he arrived, he was entrusted with the construction of bridges and roads and, thanks to his excellent service; he was promoted to the rank of Captain.
In 1822, he was commissioned to supervise the Taitsk water conduction under the
orders of Betancourt, and three years later he went to Nizhny Novgorod to work on the
construction of the trade fair, staying there until 1829.
In March that year, coinciding with the war with Turkey, by an Imperial order, Espejo II was posted to the service of the commander in chief of the independent district of the Caucasus, Count Paskevich-Erivanski, to perform work in the road-building field. Here he dealt with the recognition and fortification of the bridges and the fords over the river Kura and later he was commissioned, under the command of his brother Joaquin, for the construction of the new Erzurum Fortress and the Zaqatala Fortress. Promoted to the rank of Commander, he fought against the people from the mountains standing out for his great bravery. On October 15th, 1830 he was directing the construction of fortifications, which he continued to do under intense enemy fire.
In recognition of these actions Miguel Espejo was awarded the Order of St. Anna 2nd class, and the Order of St. Stanislaus 3rd class and in January 1833, he received the Lion and Sun of Persia 2nd class.
On this last date, Espejo II was assigned to the inspection of roads that departed from Tbilisi, with the task of making a detailed description and account the needs for their repair. He also was given the mission to study the road going from Tbilisi to Yerevan, upgrading it for the transport of heavy loads. Also in 1833, he made the project for the new military road between Tbilisi and Yerevan. The following year Espejo was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and three years later he became Colonel.
Up to 1840 Miguel Espejo continued to perform missions such as charting a new path through the Dilijan gorge to the fortress of Yerevan. Under the recommendation of the Minister of War, on this date he was appointed director of Military Communications in the Caucasus. Later, he received from the Emperor Nicholas I the rank of Major General.
The following year Miguel Espejo was appointed director of the VIII region of Ways of Communication in the Caucasus. In 1846, Espejo II was incorporated into the Board of Ways of Communication, as Lieutenant Betancourt had divided the General Directorate of Ways of Communication into three departments: Ways of Communication, Services and the Committee of Projects and Budgets, leaving the most important issues to be considered by the governing body, the Board of Ways of Communication, into which the Spanish engineer was incorporated.
Espejo II married in Russia with the daughter of Colonel Piotr Esipov, Anastasia, who owned a farm in the province of Penza, and had with her two children: a son, Mikhail, born in 1847, and a daughter, Mary, born in 1848. In 1851, the Spanish engineer sent a letter to the Director General of Ways of Communication and Public Buildings, Count Kleinmichel, requesting the adoption of Russian citizenship, and shortly afterwards, he swore allegiance to his new homeland at the General Staff of the Corps of Ways of Communication.
Apart from the awards mentioned above, Espejo II added in the course of his life the Order of St. Gregory 4th class, the Order of Prince Ravnoapostolski, the Order of Vladimir the Saint 3rd class, and several silver medals for his participation in the war against Turkey in 1828 and 1829.
