A
PAN-HISPANIC PERSPECTIVE
ASIA
Mariano Gomez
y Guard (1799-1872), a Filipino priest who was executed for his alleged
participation in the Cavite mutiny, was born (August 2).
Mariano Gómez y Guard (August 2, 1799 –
February 17, 1872) was a Filipino
secular priest, part of the Gomburza
trio who were falsely accused of mutiny by the Spanish colonial authorities in
the Philippines
in the 19th century. He was placed in a mock trial and summarily executed in Manila along with
two other clergymen.
Gómez was born on August 2, 1799 in the
suburb of Santa Cruz, Manila.
He was a Tornatrás, one born of mixed Chinese
and Spanish
ancestries. His parents were Francisco Gómez and Martina Guard. After studying
in the Colegio de San Juan de Letrán,
he studied theology
at the University of Santo Tomás.
He also became a student preparing for the priesthood at the Seminary of
Manila.
On June 2, 1824, Gomez was designated
the head priest of Bacoor, Cavite.
Aside from taking care of the spiritual necessities of the town and the church,
he also taught agriculture and cottage industries. Gómez also helped in
maintaining a harmonious relationship among his other priests. He fought for
equal rights of native priests against the abuses of their Spanish
counterparts.
Gómez was accused of treason, sedition, and taking
an active part in the Cavite mutiny
of 1872 and was sentenced to death by garotte
in a military court. He was sent to jail along with Fray José Burgos, Fray Jacinto Zamora,
Joaquín Pardo de Tavera and Máximo Paterno. The three friars were executed on
February 17, 1872 at Bagumbayan
field and have been known since then by the acronym
composed of their collective surnames – Gomburza
(GOMez + BURgos + ZAmora).
Before his execution, Gómez was active
in the publication of the newspaper "La Verdad" (Spanish, "The
Truth").
EUROPE
Manuel Antonio Flores
Maldonado Martinez Angulo y Bodquin (c.1722-1799), a viceroy of New Granada and
New Spain, died (March 20).
Manuel Antonio Flores Maldonado
Martínez Ángulo y Bodquín (c.1722, Seville,
Spain — March 20,
1799, Madrid)
was a general in the Spanish navy
and viceroy of New Granada
(1776 - November 26, 1781) and New Spain
(August 17, 1787 to October 16, 1789).
Flores entered the royal navy of Spain,
where he commanded various ships of war fighting pirates, in both the
Mediterranean and in Spanish possessions in America. He distinguished himself
for his valor as well as his knowledge, and was made a knight of the military
Order of Calatrava. He became commandant of the Naval Department at El Ferrol, a major
naval base, shipbuilding center and arsenal in northwestern Spain. He served in
that position for four years (1771-75).
Flores was named viceroy of New
Granada, and sailed to take up the position on December 3, 1775. He served in
this capacity for 11 years and 5 months. He was well liked in New Grenada. He
resigned in 1787, citing ill health. However, his resignation was apparently
motivated by dissatisfaction with José de
Gálvez, Minister of the Indies, and
Archbishop Antonio Caballero y Góngora
of Bogotá.
In 1787, Flores was named viceroy of
New Spain and president of the Audiencia
of Mexico. He arrived in Veracruz
on July 18, 1787 and took possession of his new offices in Mexico City on August
17.
In office, Flores raised three new
battalions of volunteers, those of Mexico, Nueva España, and Puebla. He refused
to share his authority with Francisco Mangino,
who had been named superintendent of New Spain (1787). He sent 50,000 pesos
annually to New York, on orders of the Crown, for businesses there.
Flores intervened in a dispute between
missionaries and the military governor of California. He arranged that the sons
of the largest landowners of the colony be given high positions in the colonial
army. In 1788, Flores arranged with the Spanish government to bring in eleven
(11) German miners from Dresden to teach Mexican miners recent technical
advances in metallurgy.
King Charles III
died on December 14, 1788, after a long reign. The sumptuous obsequies after
his death cost the treasury of New Spain a great deal. Viceroy Flores was
personally very affected, because Charles III had been his protector.
The Audiencia informed the Crown of
Flores's failing health, and he was ordered to step down because of it. He was
granted six months' additional pay to cover his expenses on the return to
Spain. He returned there on October 16, 1789, where he was awarded the Cross of
the Order of Charles III and named honorary captain general of the navy. He
died in Madrid on March 20, 1799.
Juan Bautista Pablo Forner
(1756-1799), a Spanish satirist and scholar, died (March 7).
Juan Bautista Pablo Forner (February 17
or 23, 1756 – March 7, 1799) was a Spanish
satirist and scholar. He was born at Mérida (Badajoz Province),
studied at the University of Salamanca, and was called to the bar at Madrid in 1783.
During the next few years, under the
pseudonyms of Tome Cecial, Pablo Segarra, Don Antonio Varas, Bartolo, Pablo
Ignocausto, El Bachiller Regañadientes, and Silvio Liberio, Forner engaged in a
series of polemics with García de la Huerta,
Iriarte and
other writers. The violence of his
attacks was so extreme that he was finally forbidden to publish any
controversial pamphlets, and was transferred to a legal post at Seville. In 1796, he
became crown prosecutor at Madrid, where he died on the 7th of March 1799.
Forner's literary brutality is almost unparalleled, and his satirical writings
give a false impression of his powers. His Oración
apologética por la España y su mérito literario (1786) is an excellent example
of learned advocacy, and his posthumous Exequias
de la lengua castellana (printed in the Biblioteca
de autores españoles, vol. LXIII.) testifies to his scholarship and taste.
Antonio
Gutierrez de Otero y Santayana (1729-1799), a Spanish Lieutenant General best
known for repelling Admiral Nelson’s attack on Tenerife, died (May 14).
Antonio Gutiérrez de Otero y Santayana
(May 8, 1729 – May 14, 1799) was a Spanish
Lieutenant General
best known for repelling Admiral Nelson's
attack on Santa Cruz de Tenerife
in 1797. He was born in Aranda de Duero,
in Old Castile. His father was in the military, and Gutiérrez
followed his father's footsteps by enlisting as a cadet in the Spanish army at the age
of seven.
Gutierrez participated in Spanish
military campaigns in Italy,
the Falklands,
Algiers, and
in the blockade of Gibraltar
under General Martín Alvarez. Gutiérrez also served as Commander of the island
of Minorca.
He was named Commander-General of the Canary Islands in
1791, and assumed this position on January 31,
1791. His predecessor in the position was the Marquis of
Branciforte.
During the Battle of Santa Cruz de
Tenerife (1797), Gutiérrez was suffering from an attack of asthma, but he
managed to defeat British forces under Horatio Nelson.
Gutiérrez allowed the British to leave with their arms and war honors.
As a result of this victory, Gutiérrez
was granted the Encomienda of Esparragal in the Order of
Alcántara (a system of endowments) by Charles IV of Spain.
Gutiérrez's health continued to suffer
and he was afflicted by an attack of paralysis
on April 22, 1799. He died on May 14 of that
year at Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and was buried in the chapel of Saint James the
Great (Apóstol Santiago) in the
parish of La Concepción de Santa Cruz de Santiago de Tenerife.
Diego Marin
Aguilera (1757-1799), a Spanish inventor who was an early aviation pioneer,
died.
Diego Marín
Aguilera (1757–1799) was a Spanish inventor who was an early aviation pioneer. Born in Coruña del
Conde, Marín
became the head of his household after his father died. Marín was forced to
take care of his seven brothers, and worked as an agricultural laborer, tending his animals and fields. Marín spent long afternoons
and days herding sheep in the surrounding fields.
Marín devised, early on, several
labor-saving devices, including a gadget that improved the functionality of a watermill on the river
Arandilla;
another that improved the working of a fulling-mill;
and another used to improve the cutting of marble
in the quarries
of Espejón. He also came up with a device with which to whip
horses during the process of threshing,
and another that made cloth.
Marín was inspired by the eagles he spotted
as he tended his animals and fields.
Observing the eagles inspired Marin to build a flying machine. For
six years, he worked on a flying machine of his own invention. The machine was
built out of wood, iron, cloth, and feathers. He had gathered eagle and vulture feathers by setting
up special traps on which he placed rotting meat to attract these birds of prey.
Marin made calculations regarding the
weight, volume, size, and dimensions of the feathers, as well as the weight of
the bodies of these birds. He also carefully studied the movement of
their wings and tail and constructed, with the assistance of the local blacksmith, Joaquín
Barbero, a pair of wrought iron
"joints" that moved about like a fan.
He also built stirrups
for his feet. The machine also included
hand-cranks that controlled the direction of the machine.
On the night of May 15, 1793, accompanied
by the blacksmith Barbero and one of Marín's sisters, Marín placed his glider
on the highest part of the castle of Coruña del Conde. In the light of the full moon, he
remarked: "I’m going to Burgo de Osma,
and from there to Soria,
and I’ll be back in a couple of days."
Flapping the wings of the glider, he
reached a height of “six or seven varas”
(approximately 5 or 6 m [15 to 18 feet]) and according to his companions,
glided for "431 Castilian varas". The American
Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
writes that he flew for “about 360 meters.”
Marín managed to cross the river Arandilla
and reached the area known as Heras, where he crash-landed after one of the
metal joints broke. Fearing the worst, his companions ran to the spot. Marín
was only scratched and bruised, but angry at the blacksmith for failing to weld
the joint properly.
Marín suffered further bad luck. The
inhabitants of the town, believing him to be a lunatic, heretic, or a fraud,
burned his flapping-wing creation. Marín lost all hope and, disgraced, never
attempted flight again. He died at the age of 44 in his native town, six years
after his attempted flight. Marín left no
documentation regarding his inventions and he was buried at the local church.
Called the “father of aviation” in Spain,
the Spanish Air Force
dedicated a monument to him that can be found next to the castle where he took
flight.
Of Marín, the American Institute of
Aeronautics and Astronautics writes: “It is impossible to determine how much
truth there is to the story of Marín, but it seems that he did achieve some
gliding flight, surviving after structural failure and a crash landing. Marín,
who had no formal scientific education, was endowed with a special technical
ingenuity and is a good example of the ageless human aspiration toward flight.”
Luis Paret y
Alcazar (1746-1799), a Spanish painter of the late-Baroque or Rococo period,
died (February 14).
Luis Paret y Alcázar (February 11,
1746–February 14, 1799) was a Spanish
painter of the late-Baroque
or Rococo
period.
Paret y Alcazar was born in Madrid where he
first trained with Antonio González Velazquez
and attended the Academia Real de San
Fernando. While attending the Academia
Real de San Fernando, he won a second prize
in a painting contest in 1760,
and first prize in 1766.
He entered the studio of the French painter Charles de
la Traverse, who worked for the Marchese of Ossun,
the ambassador of France in Spain. Unfortunately upon returning to Madrid,
despite becoming a teacher in the Academia de
San Fernando at age 33 years, he mainly received
royal commissions to paint and engrave vistas of ports, the Spanish equivalent
of vedute [large scale paintings
of cityscapes], and also of planned works of
construction. For some years, he was banished to Puerto Rico, where he
trained the painter Jose Campeche.
He also painted flowers in still life
and genre paintings
called bambochadas for their focus on
the customs of the underclasses.
THE
AMERICAS
Argentina
Joaquin
Madariaga (1799-1848), an Argentine soldier and politician who was a leader of
the resistance against the national government of Juan Manuel de Rosas, was
born.
Joaquín Madariaga (1799
– 1848) was a soldier and Argentine politician. He was Governor of the Corrientes
Province and leader of the province’s resistance against the
national government of Juan Manuel de
Rosas.
Madariaga was a soldier at a young age in the city of Buenos Aires, and participated in the acts known as the 'Anarchy of 1820'. He returned in 1824 to Corrientes, where he worked as a lawyer without having qualified as one and became a judge in the provincial capital.
Years later he relocated to Curuzú Cuatiá, where he dedicated himself to rural work. He was deputy in the Provincial Legislature during the governorship of Genaro Berón de Astrada and after the governor's death he supported the revolution that overthrew the federal governor Romero. Pedro Ferré named Joaquín's brother, Juan Madariaga, as commander of Mercedes and Curuzú Cuatiá. Joaquin helped Juan Lavalle form the army with which he conducted the campaign of Entre Rios in 1840.
Upon the arrival of José Maria Paz in Corrientes, Joaquin Madariaga participated in the campaign against the first invasion of the Governor of Entre Ríos, Pascual Echagüe. Alongside his brother, Juan fought in the Battle of Caaguazú, Paz's most brilliant victory. In 1842, they were defeated in the Battle of Arroyo Grande. They retreated toward Corrientes but they were denied by the Ferré government, forcing them to retreat to their ranches to save their family and property. From there they fled to Brazil, residing for some time in Alegrete.
On
April 1, 1843, the Madariaga brothers and some more officials crossed the Uruguay
River near Uruguaiana, on what would later be known
as the 'Paso de los Libres'. With the support of some leaders like Nicanor
Cáceres and Benjamín
Virasoro,
within thirteen days they occupied the entire province, forcing Governor Pedro
Cabral to
flee toward the Entre Ríos. The last federal resistance was defeated at the
beginning of May in the battle of Laguna Brava.
The Madariaga brothers convened a supportive legislature that named Joaquín Madariaga as governor. He assumed that position on August 1, 1843. His first measure was to annul any measures enacted by Cabral, and sanction Ferré for having abandoned the province.
Joaquin Madariaga formed a unitarian party distinct from that which had supported Ferré among which were Juan Pujol, Valdez and Acosta. Later, this would be the base of the liberal party, and their opponents, such as the supporters of Ferré and Virasoro, would become the autonomist party.
In December 1843, both brothers invaded Entre Ríos, taking advantage that Urquiza was in Uruguay pursuing Rivera. The Entrerrianan reserve of Eugenio Garzón was defeated, but upon arriving at Concepción del Uruguay they learned that Urquiza had defeated Rivera and was returning. The retreat that followed transformed into a flight and they lost all they had gained.
Just after returning to Corrientes, the brothers confiscated a Paraguayan shipment that sailed through the Parana River. The government of Carlos Antonio López was about to declare war but Santiago Derqui was able to negotiate a peace treaty, a navigation and commerce treaty and a little later an alliance against Rosas.
In November 1844 General Paz arrived at Corrientes and, immediately, Madariaga put him in control of the provincial forces. The General dedicated many months to training the inexperienced troops. In June 1845 he sent an expedition to Santa Fe under former Governor Juan Pablo López's command, though without success.
At the beginning of the following year, a force of 3,000 Paraguayans was established under the control of the son of the president Francisco Solano López. A little later, Urquiza invaded Corrientes, defeated the forces of Joaquin Madariaga, and took Juan Madariaga prisoner at Laguna Limpia. Urquiza did not try to attack the defensive positions of Paz but rather turned back. He promptly set free the brother of the governor and signed a peace treaty.
General Paz decided to overthrow the Madariaga brothers. To his surprise, the troops remained loyal and he had to flee to Paraguay. President Lopez retired his army and cancelled the alliance.
Free from the arrogance of Paz, the negotiations advanced rapidly, and in August 1846 the Treaty of Alcaraz was signed. Through this, Corrientes was reincorporated in the Confederation and the control of foreign relations was given back to Rosas. However, Corrientes was released from the obligation to support the Great War in Uruguay. Rosas demanded modifications to the treaty but they were rejected by Madariaga.
In March of the following year, Rosas ordered Urquiza to attack Madariaga in Corrientes. Colonel Virasora joined the forces with Urquiza in the invasion that began by the end of that year. On November 27, 1847, Urquiza shredded the Corrientian army controlled by the Madriaga brothers in the Battle of Vences or the Potrero de Vences. The Corrientians suffered 700 deaths and 2,200 prisoners, many of which were executed after the battle.
The following day, Colonel Miguel Virasoro occupied the government that he would leave to General Benjamín Madariaga one month later. Almost alone, the ex-governor Madariaga fled to Paraguay and went to Asunción, where he planned to drag President López into the war against Rosas. He failed and went to Porto Alegre, Brazil, where he died in February 1848.
Manuel
Isidoro Suarez (1799-1846), an Argentine colonel noted for his pivotal role in
the Battle of Junin, was born.
Manuel Isidoro Suárez (1799 - 1846) was
an Argentine
colonel who commanded Peruvian
and Colombian
cavalry troops in their wars of independence. He was noted for his pivotal role
in securing a revolutionary victory at the Battle of
Junín. He was the great-grandfather of Argentine
writer Jorge Luis Borges,
who commemorated him in three poems:
· "Sepulchral
Inscription" from Fervor of Buenos
Aires (1923)
· "A
Page to Commemorate Colonel Suárez, Victor at Junín" from The Other, The Same (1964)
On August 6, 1824, the revolutionary
and royalist armies confronted one another on the plain of Junín. The
revolutionaries occupied the low ground, while the royalist cavalry held better
territory. The armies clashed at around four in the afternoon. In the initial
melee of "swords and sabers", revolutionary general William Miller's
hussars were forced back. This initial setback led Simon Bolívar to
withdraw from the field to his infantry rearguard. Reunited, they hurried back
and waited once more for the royalist cavalry under Canterac.
Colonel Suárez commanded the Peruvian
Hussars, part of Miller's cavalry. Suárez and his men concealed themselves in a
twist in the road, where they lay in wait for the enemy. They did not leave
with the rest of Miller's cavalry, observing that Canterac's entire cavalry was
riding in pursuit. Suárez allowed them to pass and then ordered the attack. The
royalists found their unguarded flank under attack. The royalists attempted to
regroup and return the attack, but began to break rank and were pursued and
defeated by the Peruvian Hussars, the Colombian Grenadiers, the Mounted
Grenadiers, and Colombian Hussars.
The partido
of Coronel Suárez,
in the south of Buenos Aires Province,
and its main city, Coronel Suárez,
were both named after him.
Chile
Jose Prieto
(1799-1875), a Chilean general who was behind the 1851 revolt of the Chilean
southern provinces, was born (March 25).
José María de la Cruz Prieto (Concepción, March 25,
1799 – November 23, 1875) was a Chilean
soldier.
The son of Luis de la Cruz and
of Josefa Prieto Sotomayor, and was a cousin of future presidents José Joaquín Prieto
and Manuel Bulnes.
He joined the Army on October 27, 1811, and participated actively in the
battles of Chacabuco,
Maipu and Pangal during the Chilean War of Independence.
He married Josefa Zañartu Trujillo, and had a single daughter, Delfina de la
Cruz Zañartu who in turn was the wife of future president Aníbal Pinto.
During the War of the Confederation,
he was the under-commandant-in-chief of the Restoration Army, under General Manuel Bulnes,
having special participation in the victory of Yungay.
After the war, he was Intendant of Valparaíso and later,
of Concepción. He ran for president in 1851, but was defeated by Manuel Montt. His defeat
caused him to revolt in the southern provinces, starting the 1851 revolution. His
cousin Manuel Bulnes crushed the revolutionary attempt and signed the treaty of
Purapel with the revolutionaries.
After that he retired from politics,
dying in Concepcion at the age of 76.
Costa Rica
Jose Zamora
(1799-1856), a Costa Rican head of state, was born (March 20).
José María Alfaro Zamora (March 20,
1799 - June 12, 1856) was the Costa Rican
Head of State between the periods of 1842 and 1844 as well as 1846 and 1847 and
President of Costa Rica between May 1 and May 8, 1847.
Alfaro was born in Alajuela, Costa Rica,
on March 20, 1799 to his parents Juan Antonio Alfaro y Arias and María Damiana
Zamora y Flores. On May 19, 1825, he married María Josefa Sandoval y Jiménez.
With her, he fathered José Joaquín Alfaro Sandoval, a daughter who died early
in her childhood, and Calixto Alfaro Sandoval.
Alfaro was a farmer and a businessman.
He owned lands devoted to a coffee plantation and a sawmill in Itiquís near
Alajuela. He also participated in a lumber company in Jinotepe, Nicaragua.
Alfaro served as supply deputy for
Alajuela (1825-1827), second mayor of Alajuela (1828), deputy for Alajuela
(1829-1831), deputy for Heredia (1834-1836), political leader of the western
department (1841) and magistrate of the Judicial Chamber (1841-1842).
On September 27, 1842, in a junta
convocated by then Head of State Antonio
Pinto Soares, José María Alfaro Zamora was
designated Provisional Head of State.
During his administration, he built the
road that connects San José
to Puntarenas,
founded Universidad de Santo Tomás, executed the 1844 Constitution, and founded
the newspaper "Mentor Costarricense".
Alfaro lost the 1844 elections to Francisco María Oreamuno Bonilla.
On November 29, 1844 he gave Oreamuno his office which was meant to last until
1848.
On June 7, 1846 after a coup d'état,
Alfaro was again declared Provisional Head of State. During this administration
Puntarenas was declared a free port, the 1847 Constitution was executed and a
failed diplomatic mission with Nicaragua was launched in a second attempt to
sign a border agreement with this country (a previous attempt by Braulio Carrillo in
1838 had also failed). Although he lost the 1847 elections to José María Castro Madriz,
Alfaro won the office of Vice President for the next term.
In order to comply with the new
Constitution, from May 1 to May 8, 1847 he used the title President of the State. On May 8, 1847 he was succeeded by Castro.
On May 1847 he became Vice President of
the State, but he had to quit months after. Accused of corruption, he was
confined to Térraba and later moved to Panama.
He later returned to Costa Rica but refused to participate in politics.
Joaquin Bernardo
Calvo Rosales (1799-1865), a Costa Rican politician, was born.
Joaquín Bernardo Calvo Rosales (1799 -
1865) was a Costa Rican
politician, born in Cartago, Costa Rica,
in 1799. His first wife was Juana Vicenta Fernandez y Quirós and his second
wife was Salvadora Mora y Perez.
He studied in Cartago with Rafael
Francisco Osejo.
He was interim General Minister of
Costa Rica from 1827 to 1835 and Political Head of the Eastern Department in
1835. For his participation in the War of Liga (civil war of 1835) he was for a
time exiled in Nicaragua.
Later he was Magistrate of the Court of appeal, Minister of Property and War,
Minister of Interior and Exterior Relations, Minister of Exterior Relations and
Ecclesiastic Businesses, Minister of Interior and annexed portfolios and
President of the Senate and the Legislative Body. As Chancellor, he signed in
1856 the Calvo treaty, the first bordering agreement between Costa Rica and Colombia.
He died in San José, Costa Rica,
in 1865.
His son Joaquín Bernardo Calvo Mora was,
for many years, Minister Plenipotentiary of Costa Rica in Washington, D.C.
Honduras
Diego Vigil
Cocana (1799-1845), the last president of the Federal Republic of Central
America, was born.
Diego Vigil Cocaña (1799, Tegucigalpa, Honduras — January 10,
1845, Granada, Nicaragua)
was a Central American politician. He was the last president of the Federal Republic of Central America
(1839–40), during its disintegration. He was also chief of state of the federal
states of Honduras (1829) and El Salvador
(1836–37 and 1837–38).
Diego Vigil was the son of José Vigil
Fernández and Josefa Cocaña Fábrega. He was related to the Central American
Liberal leader, general and president, Francisco
Morazán, and was among his closest fellow
combatants. Vigil studied law at the University
of León in León,
Nicaragua, and was afterwards temporarily active
as a lawyer and notary in Tegucigalpa.
In 1824, Vigil was a member of the
federal parliament. In 1826-27, Vigil was governor of the province of
Tegucigalpa, but after the occupation of that city by the troops of federal
President Manuel José Arce,
he was arrested. When Morazán re-conquered Honduras, Vigil was freed.
After Morazán's victory in the Battle of Trinidad
(November 10, 1827), the Legislative Assembly of Honduras named Vigil
vice-chief of state on 27 November 1827. Morazán later made him chief of the
state of Honduras (March 7, 1829 to December 2, 1829).
During Vigil’s term of office, the
Legislative Assembly dissolved the religious communities in Honduras. Their goods
passed to the state, and several monasteries and other buildings were occupied
as public buildings.
General Morazán made him chief of state
of the state of El Salvador, effective February 1, 1836. He served until May
23, 1837, and then again from July 7, 1837 to January 6, 1838.
During his administration, a cholera epidemic
broke out in El Salvador, spread by pilgrims returning from the shrine of Esquipulas. Because of
the cholera, the government stopped all payments except for public employees,
in order to devote the resources to fighting the epidemic. By January 1837, the
cholera had spread to all the populations of the state. The state government
established sanitary committees to meet in the capitals of the departments.
In March 1836, Licenciado and General Nicolás Espinoza,
former chief of state of the state of El Salvador, was expelled from the state,
and his title of Benemerito de la Patria
was withdrawn.
On January 8, 1837, the Legislative
Assembly passed the annual budget, totaling 85,028 pesos. It also authorized
the introduction of water into the town of San Miguel.
On May 23, 1837, an insurrection of
natives in Zacatecoluca
and Cojutepeque
broke out, with much killing and pillaging. On the same day, the office of the
chief of state passed from Vigil to Timoteo
Menéndez. Vigil returned to office six weeks
later, on July 7.
In June 1837, a revolutionary movement
erupted in Santa Ana,
but it was suppressed. The government decreed amnesty for the participants in
the various revolutionary movements.
After federal Vice President Gregorio Salazar was
killed during the occupation of Guatemala City
by the rebel forces of Rafael Carrera,
Vigil was selected to succeed him (February 1, 1838). Morazán was then in his
second term as president of the federation.
On February 1, 1839, Morazán turned the
presidency over to Vigil. Nicaragua, Honduras and Costa Rica had withdrawn from
the federation in 1838, and soon Guatemala followed suit (April 17, 1839). This
left the "federation" with only one member, El Salvador. On March 31,
1840, El Salvador dissolved the federation and Vigil's term came to an end.
On April 8, 1840 Diego Vigil and
Francisco Morazán sailed from El Salvador for Costa Rica and Panama. After
Morazán's execution on September 15, 1842 in San José,
Costa Rica, Vigil settled in Granada, Nicaragua,
where he remained until his death in 1845.
Mexico
Manuel Maria
de Llano Lozano (1799-1863), a separatist politician who governed Nuevo Leon, was
born (March 1).
Manuel María de Llano Lozano (March 1,
1799 – March 1, 1863) was a famous separatist
politician and liberal who governed
Nuevo León, Mexico, from 1839
to 1845.
He was born in the city of Monterrey on March 1,
1799, to Pedro Manuel de Llano,
a locally known politician, and his wife, María de Jesús Lozano. At 27 years,
he was elected mayor of the city with the condition that he would renounce
after a few months to argue a federal dispute for Nuevo León before the Congress of the Union.
Upon his return to Monterrey, Lozano founded the newspaper El Antagonista,
which was the first independent paper in that region. Later, Lozano was elected
governor of the state
after the resignation of Manuel Gómez de Castro,
causing local controversy and remaining in the position from 1839 to 1845.
During his term as governor he
confronted the Catholic Church
about various affairs of social interest such as the mandatory pricing of the
public for ecclesiastic services and the building of public schools financed by
the government. He afterwards headed the defense of the state capital from the United States invasion
of 1846.
De Llano was characterized as a
sympathetic liberal politician with an independent feeling for his region. He
introduced various well-known controversial regionalists like Santiago Vidaurri to
his political team. On January 17, 1840, as state governor, he declared Nuevo
León independent from Mexico
and set the goal of eventually joining the states of Coahuila and Tamaulipas in the Republic of the Rio Grande.
However, the rebellion collapsed within the year.
De Llano died in Monterrey on March 1,
1863 at 64 years of age.
Gabriel Valencia (1799-1848), a Mexican
soldier and an interim president of Mexico, was born.
Gabriel Valencia (1799–1848) was a Mexican soldier
in the early years of the Republic. From December 30, 1845 to January 2, 1846
he served as interim president of Mexico.
Valencia joined
the Spanish colonial army before Mexican independence, but transferred his
allegiance to the Mexican army in 1821. He made friends in the military and
government, becoming a power in Mexican politics. He forged an uneasy alliance
with Antonio López de Santa Anna, a powerful figure
repeatedly in and out of the presidency during this period.
In
1840 and 1841, there were several related rebellions against Anastasio
Bustamante,
then in his third period as president of Mexico. Bustamante was an adherent of
the centralist party. On July 15, 1840, soldiers led by rebellious General José Urrea and Valentín Gómez
Farías
took the presidential palace and captured President Bustamante, later releasing
him. The chief of the general staff, General Gabriel Valencia, helped subdue
the revolt.
Shortly
thereafter, Mariano Paredes y Arrillaga rose against Bustamante in Guadalajara, Juan N. Álvarez in the south, and López de
Santa Anna in Perote, Veracruz. This time, on September 4, 1841, Valencia
joined the rebellion by publishing the Plan
de la Ciudadela.
The
situation was now serious for Bustamante, himself a general. He took the field
to fight the rebels, but was defeated. Bustamante went into exile in Europe for
a second time (in Italy). The generals arrayed against him then reached a
political agreement proclaimed as the Plan
de Tacubaya. This plan proclaimed the presidency vacant and named a
provisional president to call elections for a constituent congress. This
provisional president was, once again, López de Santa Anna. This was his sixth
term as president.
After
several other changes in the office of president (including two more intervals
by Santa Anna), José Joaquín de Herrera became interim president on
December 17, 1844. He became constitutional president on September 16, 1845.
Two days before, General Mariano Paredes y Arrillaga again revolted, in
opposition to Herrera.
In
December 1845 Herrera announced he was setting out at the head of an expedition
to repel North American invaders, who had reached Saltillo. General Paredes used this
opportunity to seize power. On December 30, 1845, General Valencia, now in
charge of the garrison of Mexico City, announced his support for Paredes. Out
of options, Herrera turned power over to Valencia.
This
was a temporary appointment, meant only to serve the transfer of power. A
junta, led by the archbishop of Mexico City, Manuel Posada, was convoked. On
January 2, 1846 this junta elected General Paredes interim president.
Valencia's term had lasted three days.
In
1847 General Valencia was among the Mexican forces opposing General Winfield Scott's advance from Veracruz to Mexico City in the Mexican-American
War. On
August 19, 1847, Scott's forces attacked those of Valencia in the town of Contreras, near Mexico City. Because
of rivalry between Valencia and López de Santa Anna, Valencia had advanced
beyond his assigned position. Santa Anna could not send reinforcements. The
Mexicans were badly defeated on August 20.
The
remnants of Valencia's forces fell back to Churubusco, joining Santa Anna's forces there. Scott
continued his advance, and the Mexicans were defeated again at Churubusco,
leaving the way open to Mexico City.
Jose Antonio
de Alzate y Ramirez (1737-1799), a Mexican priest, scientist, historian,
cartographer and journalist, died (February 2).
José Antonio de Alzate y Ramírez
(November 21, 1737 — February 2, 1799) was a
Mexican priest, scientist, historian, cartographer, and journalist. He was born
in Ozumba
in 1737. He studied in the Colegio de San Ildefonso in Mexico City, graduating
as a bachelor in theology in 1756. A priest from
the age of 20, he was also a corresponding
member of the French and Spanish academies of science, and one of the earliest
trustworthy observers of Mexican meteorology.
He attained a high reputation as a zoologist and botanist, and his researches
led the way for the modern exploration of Mexican antiquities. He published the
Gaceta de Literatura, and an essay
titled La limite des niéges perpetuelles
en Volcan Popocatepetl.
The natural sciences, physics,
astronomy and mathematics were, for Alzate, subjects that deserved great
attention. He conducted several scientific experiments, and wrote numerous
articles that were published in science journals.
Inaugurated in 1768, Alzate’s Diario literario de Méjico [Literary
Newspaper of Mexico] was suspended after only three months. He later created, in
1788, the Gaceta de Literatura
[Gazette of Literature], that was published until 1795 (115 issues). This periodical inspired many of his
countrymen to follow his example. His
description of the ruins of Xochicalco
is the first notice published of these interesting ruins.
More than thirty treatises on various
subjects are attributed to Alzate. Among
other works, he wrote Observaciones
meteorológicas [Weather observations] (1769), Observación del paso de Venus por el disco del Sol [Observation of
the passage of Venus by the disc of the Sun] (1770), Modelo y descripción de los hornos de Almadén [Model and
description of the furnaces of Almadén], notes, additions and maps for the Historia Antigua de México [Ancient
History of Mexico], written by Francisco Javier Clavijero,
and a Mapa de la América del Norte
[Map of North America].
Astronomy, physics, meteorology,
antiquities, and metallurgy, were among the topics on which Alzate wrote, but
he also devoted serious attention to certain industries. Thus, the growing of silk in Mexico
was the subject of several of his papers. He wrote a dissertation on the use of
ammonia in
combating mephitic gases in abandoned mines,
and also prepared maps of New Spain
(Mexico). In 1772, he published work that
showed that the well-known psychedelic effects of pipiltzintzintli were
due to natural causes and not the work of the devil
(Memoria del uso que hacen los indios de
los pipiltzintzintlis; México, D.F.: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de
México). He was frequently opposed, even reviled, at
home, but the French Academy of Sciences
made him a corresponding member, and the viceroys
of Mexico and the archbishops
entrusted him with sundry scientific missions.
In his honor, the Sociedad Científica
Antonio Alzate [Antonio Alzate Scientific Society] was created in 1884. In
1935, this society became the National Academy of Sciences. A dam and reservoir are named in his honor
in the State of Mexico, north of Toluca.
Juan Vicente de Guemes
Padilla Horcasitas y Aguayo (1740-1799), a viceroy of New Spain who was one of
the greatest reformers and one of the finest administrators of the Spanish
colonial era, died (May 2).
Juan Vicente de Güemes Padilla Horcasitas
y Aguayo, 2nd Count of Revillagigedo (Spanish,
with variant name: Juan Vicente de Güemes
Pacheco de Padilla y Horcasitas, segundo conde de Revillagigedo) (1740, Havana – May 2,
1799, Madrid)
was a Spanish military officer and viceroy
of New Spain
from October 17, 1789 to July 11, 1794. He is known as a great reformer and one
of the finest administrators of the Spanish colonial era — perhaps the last
able viceroy of New Spain.
From a young age, Güemes Padilla
Horcasitas served in the army, and distinguished himself fighting the British
in the siege of Gibraltar.
He rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel. He was a knight of the military
Order of Charles III, baron of Benilova y Rivarroja and lord of the bedchamber
to his majesty.
Guemes Padilla arrived at Veracruz on October
8, 1789 and took up the offices of viceroy, captain general and president of
the Audiencia
on the seventeenth. He became the third Criollo
viceroy. His father, Juan Francisco de Güemes y
Horcasitas, first Count of Revillagigedo was
captain general of the island of Cuba, where the son was born, and later
viceroy of New Spain (1746–55). The son was said to sleep only three to four
hours a night, arising at 1 a.m. to begin a day's work.
Within a week of Güemes Padilla taking
office, a gang of outlaws murdered Joaquín Dongo, a merchant and principal
citizen of the capital, and ten of his employees. Güemes Padilla took only 13
days to have the gang located, tried and executed for the murders. Blanco,
Aldama and Quintero, all Spaniards, were garroted for the murders on November
7, on a scaffold in the Plaza de Mexico. For this, he was often called the Vindicator of Justice.
Two other prominent murders occurred
during his term. The first was that of the prefect of the monastery of Merced,
killed by a priest of his order September 23, 1790. The other was the murder on
June 25, 1792 of Lucas de Gálvez,
governor and captain general of Yucatán.
Guemes Padilla found the capital run
down and dirty — the streets, the markets, the promenades. Most of the people
appeared in public wearing nothing but thin robes and battered straw hats.
Houses were badly made and badly cared for. Public education had deteriorated.
There were no free primary schools and other public schools were deficient.
Most streets had not been maintained, and were fit for travel only by foot or
by mule. The state of the army was shocking.
Guemes Padilla immediately ordered the
cleaning of the viceroy's palace, banishing the food-sellers' stalls. He
prohibited the population from throwing trash in the streets. He removed stray
animals from the streets. He ordered that no building be constructed without a
license from the authorities. He continued the cobblestone paving of the
streets outside of the city center.
Guemes Padilla did much to lessen the
bribery and corruption among government employees. He implemented a new
administrative system of intendancies in the government (begun by a previous
viceroy, Alonso Núñez de Haro y Peralta).
He reorganized the courts and founded schools for Indigenous People in
various cities. He hired competent teachers for the Academy of San Carlos, and
founded a chair in mathematics. He also set up a chair in anatomy at the
General Hospital of the Natives.
Guemes Padilla ordered plans be created
for the principal cities, stimulated the establishment of factories, and
continued the work on the drainage system of Mexico City.
He stimulated the cultivation of plants for textiles — cotton, hemp, flax and
mulberry — and regulated the cutting of wood.
Güemes Padilla cleaned up Mexico City
and continued to install street lights there and in various other cities. All
of the principal streets of Mexico City were lighted by the end of his term. He
intensified the construction of highways to Veracruz, Acapulco, Guadalajara,
San Blas and Toluca and established bi-weekly mail service to the capitals of
the intendancies. He promoted the construction of needed public buildings and
aqueducts. He instituted night patrols and fire brigades. He also established
the general archives of the colony, bring together old and important documents.
He ordered that cemeteries be outside the city. He had new ships built for the
protection of the coasts.
As a reaction to the French Revolution,
Guemes Padilla prohibited the importation of books and periodicals expressing
the new ideas. Spain's war with France was very expensive, and Güemes Padilla
sent three million pesos to the mother country, in addition to the usual
remittances.
Guemes Padilla initiated excavations in
the Plaza de Armas in Mexico City, during which the Aztec calendar stone
was discovered (1790). (This was part of a project to level the streets.) In
1792 he founded the Royal College of Mining. He aided the botanical
investigations of Martín Sessé y Lacasta,
which were to result in the Flora
mexicana (1894). He ordered that a census be taken of the colony. There
were 4,484,000 inhabitants.
On November 14, 1789, for
the first time on record the Aurora Borealis was seen in
Mexico City. This caused much consternation; people believed that the heavens
were on fire, and the end of the world was approaching.
Alessandro Malaspina,
commander of the corvettes
Descubierta and Atrevida,
arrived in Mexico in 1791 during his scientific and political voyage throughout
the Spanish colonies. Malaspina assigned several of his officers to investigate
the colonial archives and records. This was one of the political tasks of the
Malaspina expedition, for which Malaspina and his officers had royal authority
above that of the viceroy, authorizing access to any and all documents they
might think relevant. Dionisio Alcalá Galiano
was in command of the party of Malaspina's officers. While in Mexico, Malaspina
received orders from the king of Spain to investigate a rumored Northwest Passage in Alaska. While
returning to Acapulco, Malaspina learned of the discovery of the entrance to
the Strait of Georgia,
a result of the expedition of Francisco de Eliza
sent by Güemes Padilla in 1791 to the Pacific
Northwest. Güemes Padilla had been preparing
another expedition to explore the Strait of Juan de Fuca since 1791. It was to
be under the command of Francisco Antonio Mourelle,
using two newly built schooners, Mexicana
and Sutil.
However, Malaspina was able to take control of the schooners, replace Mourelle
with Alcalá Galiano, and sent the ships to explore the Strait of Georgia.
Galiano's expedition took place in 1792. Because Malaspina was imprisoned for
political reasons upon his return to Spain in 1794 the account of his
expedition was never published. Galiano's exploration account was published in
1802, but with all mention of Malaspina removed. It was instead said that
Galiano operated under the direction of Güemes Padilla instead of Malaspina.
Because of his sponsorship of
exploration, several places in North America
bear his name, such as San Juan Island,
Orcas Island
[from Horcasitas], and Guemes Island,
among others. When he took the office of viceroy in 1789, the Spanish claims in
North America had reached their widest extent. Although he sponsored exploration,
he did not see the Pacific Northwest as being worth what it would cost to
maintain possession of it and he resisted his predecessor's efforts to build up
the army there.
In 1794, complaints from the
Ayuntamiento (city government) led to a juicio de residencia
[job performance evaluation] against the viceroy before the Council of the Indies.
(He had made enemies by his fight against corruption.) The viceroy was ordered
to return to Spain to mount a defense against the various charges. He was
absolved and the councilmen were ordered to pay costs.
Despite his good work and popularity
with the people he ruled, Güemes Padilla lasted only five years in office.
Although King Charles IV
was the nominal ruler of Spain, his queen, Maria Louisa
of Parma, and her lover, Manuel de Godoy, held
most of the power. Godoy was not in agreement with Güemes Padilla's reforms and
lack of territorial ambitions in the Pacific Northwest. Godoy replaced him as
soon as he could.
Revillagigedo Island,
in the Alexander Archipelago
of southeast Alaska
was named for him, as were the San Juan Islands
in what is now the United States
state of Washington
and the Revillagigedo Islands,
southwest of the Baja California peninsula
in Mexico. There is also a Revilla-Gigedo Palace
in Gijón, Spain.
Guemes Padilla died on May 2, 1799
(some sources say May 12) in Madrid. He was greatly mourned in New Spain. In
his honor, Charles IV made his descendants grandees of Spain.
THE
UNITED STATES
Jose Antonio
Aguirre (1799-1860), a Spanish pioneer of the area near modern day San Diego,
California, was born.
José Antonio Aguirre (1799–1860) was a
merchant and rancher in Alta California,
most prominently in what would become San Diego,
California.
Aguirre was born in Spain, but left
for North America at the age of 15, and became a citizen of Mexico and the United States as
national powers rose and fell on the continent. He married Francisca Estudillo,
eldest daughter of José Antonio Estudillo,
a prominent landowner. Aguirre received half of the Rancho El Tejon
Mexican land grant in 1843. Some years after Francisca died during what would
have been the birth of their first child, Aguirre married Francisca's sister,
María del Rosario Estudillo. María del Rosario Estudillo was the grantee of Rancho San Jacinto Sobrante.
In 1850, Aguirre joined William Heath Davis
and Aguirre's brother-in-law Miguel Pedrorena
(who was married to another Estudillo sister, Antonia) in an attempt to start a
new town near San Diego, but closer to the San Diego
Bay. In 1853, José Antonio Aguirre bought Rancho San Jacinto Nuevo y Potrero
from the estate of Miguel Pedrorena.
Jose de la
Cruz Sanchez (1799-1878), the eleventh Alcalde (Mayor) of San Francisco, was
born.
José de la Cruz Sánchez was the eldest
son of José Antonio Sánchez grantee of Rancho Buri
Buri in present day San Mateo, California.
José de la Cruz married Josefa Ramona Eduarda Mercado y Sal and they had eight
children. José de la Cruz Sánchez's brother, Francisco
Sanchez, was also an alcalde of San Francisco.
Jose Antonio Sanchez came to California
with his father also named Jose Antonio Sanchez, with the De Anza Expedition
of 1776. He too became a soldier at the San Francisco
Presidio. Rancho Buri Buri was provisionally
given to him by the Mexican government in 1827. He retired from active service
in 1836 and died in 1843. José Antonio’s five sons were José de la Cruz
Sánchez, Francisco Sanchez,
Manuel Sánchez, Jose Ysidro (Chino) Sánchez and Ysidro Sánchez. José Antonio’s
five daughters were married to Francisco De Haro
(Emiliana Sanchez), Candelario Valencia (Paula Sánchez), a Valencia, Leonardo
Feliz and John Reed
(Hilaria Sanchez).
Manuel Luis
Gayoso de Lemos Amorin y Magallanes (1747-1799), a Spanish governor of
Louisiana, died (July 18).
Manuel Luis Gayoso de Lemos Amorín y
Magallanes (May 30, 1747 – July 18, 1799) was the Spanish governor of Louisiana from 1797
until his death in 1799. Born in Oporto,
Portugal on May
30, 1747, to Spanish consul Manuel Luis Gayoso de Lemos y Sarmiento and Theresa
Angélica de Amorín y Magallanes, he received his education in London, where his
parents were living.
At age 23, Manuel Gayoso de Lemos
joined the military, the Spanish Lisbon Regiment as a cadet (1771) and was
commissioned ensign
(sub-lieutenant) the following year. The Lisbon Regiment had been re-assigned
from Havana
to New Orleans
since the Spanish re-entry under Field
Marshal Alejandro
O'Reilly in 1769. Throughout his life Gayoso de
Lemos retained his military rank and he was a brigadier
at the time of his death. Gayoso de Lemos married three times: first to Theresa
Margarita Hopman y Pereira of Lisbon, with whom he had two children; then in
1792 to Elizabeth Watts of Philadelphia
with no children; and finally to Margaret Cyrilla Watts of Louisiana, with whom
he had one son.
On November 3, 1787, Manuel Gayoso de
Lemos assumed military and civil command of the fort and the newly organized
District of Natchez
(West Florida),
having been appointed district governor by Governor-General Esteban Rodríguez Miró,
governor of Louisiana
and West Florida.
On his arrival, Gayoso de Lemos established an informal cabildo (council) of
landed planters which was formalized in 1792. Most members of the council were
of non-Spanish origin having come down from the Ohio River
Valley settlements (especially Kentucky). Gayoso de
Lemos continued to encourage American settlement on Spanish soil, especially by
Catholics,
notably the Irish
and the Scots,
and those who brought significant property. He moved the administrative part of
the town of Natchez
from the waterfront up onto the bluffs. One of the most troubling aspects
during his civil administration was confusion in the land titles, with a number
of inconsistent land grants.
Unfortunately, Rodríguez Miró's successor, Governor-General Carondelet was not
amenable to rectifying the problem.
While in Natchez, Gayoso de
Lemos used the greed of a number of Americans, notably General James Wilkinson and Philip Nolan to help
limit the growth of the United States. Also to this end, Gayoso de Lemos
entered into alliances with the local Indigenous American tribes and signed
formal treaties with them in 1792, 1793, and 1795.
Under his direction, the Spanish fortified the Mississippi
at Nogales (later Walnut Hills, then later changed to Vicksburg) and
Chickasaw Bluffs (later Memphis).
He was instrumental in acquiring the information from James Wilkinson
concerning the proposed United States
attack on New Orleans
in 1793 by General George Rogers Clark.
However, under the terms of Pinckney's Treaty
promulgated in 1796, Spain
agreed to relinquish the Natchez
District to the United States.
Thus Gayoso de Lemos oversaw the gradual Spanish withdrawal from the east side
of the Mississippi.
In March 1797, the fort at Nogales was decommissioned with the troops and
stores being moved to St. Louis.
Final evacuation of the district did not occur until 1798.
Gayoso de Lemos succeeded Carondelet as
Governor-General of Louisiana
and West Florida
on August 5, 1797. His first act was to issue his own Bando de Buen Gobierno
(Edict of Good Government) and to send a list of instructions to commandants of
all posts concerning land grants.
As governor, Gayoso de Lemos
consolidated the military, still fearing a possible thrust south by Britain and desiring
to keep Louisiana
as a buffer between the United States
and the Spanish province of Texas.
He continued the unofficial policy of allowing Americans to bring their slaves
with them from the north, although the importation of new slaves had been
prohibited in Louisiana
since 1792. In 1798, Gayoso de Lemos, issued a comprehensive edict concerning Catholicism as the state
faith of the colony. In addition to increasing formal church membership (and
tithing), it attempted to coerce people to give up unnecessarily working on
Sundays and holy days. In it, Gayoso de Lemos condemned anyone who challenged
the theology or social centrality of the church. That same year he instituted
state-run garbage collection (a novel idea at the time).
Gayoso de Lemos died in New Orleans of yellow fever on July 18,
1799. Colonel Francisco Bouligny
became the acting military governor and Nicolas Maria Vidal the acting civil
governor.
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