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Jose Maria Cordoba Biography

José María Córdoba

(José María Córdova or Córdoba Muñoz; La Concepción, 1799-El Santuario, 1829) Colombian military.Known as The Hero of Ayacucho for his important role in that decisive battle, he was one of the most prominent military men of the Emancipation Wars of Latin America (1810-1826), during which he served in the troops of José Antonio Páez, Simón Bolívar and Antonio José de Sucre.Due to his active participation in the successive combats of the Colombian War of Independence (1810-1819), he is considered one of the heroes of the country's independence.

José María Córdoba

José María Córdoba was born in La Concepción, Antioquia, on September 8, 1799, in the household formed by the mayor of the place, Crisanto de Córdova y Mesa, and by Pascuala Muñoz Castrillón.In 1802, the family moved to the mining town of San Vicente, where José María received the doctrine or catechism of Saturdays for all instruction.In 1808, the father decided for the good of his businesses and his children to settle in Rionegro; there José María learned to read and write.Like other prominent patriots, his education was, above all, self-taught.Three years later, in 1811, he accompanied his father on a business trip to Cartagena, when absolute independence from Spain had already been decreed.

In 1814, the wise Francisco José de Caldas organized in Medellín the Corps of Engineers of the Republic of Antioquia, which José María joined.It was the beginning of his military career, which continued with General Emmanuel Serviez when he marched south to support the patriotic army fighting in Cauca.The first combat in which he participated was that of Río Palo, in a battalion commanded by José María Cabal; he performed brilliantly and the hitherto second lieutenant was promoted on the same battlefield to effective lieutenant.After the defeat of the Cuchilla del Tambo, in 1816, a small number of men led by Serviez and Francisco de Paula Santander took refuge in the eastern plains; José María Córdoba joined that contingent.

At the Casanare, the young lieutenant showed exemplary behavior and dominated the horse like any llanero, which attracted attention, since almost none of the members of the defeated army he knew how to ride well.Córdoba participated in the Battle of Bajo Apure, planned by José Antonio Páez to seize the horse of the royalist armies.There the León de Apure obtained the first patriot victory after the Spanish reconquest.After the battle, Serviez was assassinated in November 1816, in a hut in front of the town of Achaguas, presumably on the orders of Páez.Córdoba, who esteemed Serviez (he had been his weapons teacher and from him he had learned everything he knew), tried to escape from the camp, but was arrested and charged with desertion.When a council sentenced him to death, a group of officers led by Casanareño leader Juan Nepomuceno Moreno interceded for him.Córdoba was forgiven and forced to rejoin the squad first.

Córdoba went to Guyana in 1817 and the Liberator Simón Bolívar incorporated him to his General Staff in June of that year.He participated in the capture of Angostura and witnessed, on October 16, the execution of the rebel general Manuel Piar.On November 14 he was promoted to captain of cavalry and became aide-de-camp to Carlos Soublette, Chief of General Staff.On December 31, 1817, General Bolívar traveled through the Orinoco in order to meet with Páez, a meeting that took place in Cañafistula on January 30, 1818.At said meeting it was agreed that the León de Apure He had to seize the very important point of Calabozo, an action that was carried out on February 12; There the Liberator was able to annihilate the forces of Pablo Morillo, but he did not do so and the royalists took refuge in El Sombrero.There was combat in El Semen and the patriots were defeated; after regrouping the scattered troops, they again faced the Spanish in the Ortiz field, without being a clear winner.In all these actions, Captain Córdoba showed great courage and great gifts as a strategist and warrior.

Once Bolívar was elected in Angostura, on February 15 In 1819, as President of the Republic, he decided to free New Granada first; He met with Páez and Santander in Mantecal and began, on June 15, the crossing of the Andes, with the intention of taking Santafé de Bogotá.On July 25, 1819, in the battle of Pantano de Vargas, after the famous charge of the fourteen spearmen led by Colonel Juan José Rondón and six hours of hard combat, the patriotic troops defeated the Spanish and practically sealed the independence.Córdoba was part of the battalion commanded by General José Antonio Anzoátegui.The definitive triumph of the republican hosts occurred on August 7 at the Boyacá Bridge.

General Anzoátegui's battalion, of which Córdoba was a part, was commissioned on August 10, 1819 to persecute the viceroy Juan Sámano.When the detachment arrived in Honda, Córdoba separated on August 20 with a small troop of one hundred men and marched to Antioquia, where Bolívar had commissioned him to definitively dislodge the last strongholds of the royalist army in the province and on the Atlantic Coast.Once he reached Antioquia territory, the young captain organized it militarily and politically: he called up the officers and soldiers who had previously collaborated with the Republic, and with the help of Captain Carlos Robledo he took Medellín, appointed José Manuel Restrepo, on August 31, as political governor and dispatched, on September 9, Juan María Gómez to Chocó, with an order to evict the Spanish from the region.

The pressure that the Spanish exerted on Antioquia was great.However, Córdoba knew how to face the situation; He did not hesitate to shoot those who opposed the Republic, seized assets and expelled the suspected royalists by order of the Liberator.In the administrative field he was also very active: he reorganized the printing press and the gunpowder factory and strengthened the treasury by regulating the rent of tobacco and liquor stores.The definitive victory of the patriots over the royalists in Antioquia was led by Córdoba when, on February 12, 1820, at the site of Chorros-Blancos, he faced the Spanish colonels Francisco Warleta and Carlos Tolrá, whom he defeated in a battle of barely an hour long.

After the triumph, Bolívar asked him to recover Mompós and the Magdalena River, a river artery of capital importance for the country's economy.He named him Commander General of the Cauca and Magdalena columns of operations.Córdoba marched ready to carry out the order of the Liberator and on June 3, 1820 he occupied Magangué, on June 20 he recovered Mompós and at the end of the month Lieutenant Colonel Hermógenes Maza, Córdoba's lieutenant, took Tenerife: thus the Magdalena River was cleaned of escutcheons.

However, the city of Cartagena and the Corozal savannas remained to be liberated; To fulfill this objective, a joint action was planned in which Colonel Mariano Montilla, Admiral Luis Brión, Commander José Prudencio Padilla and Captain Córdoba would participate.In August 1821, Padilla and José María Carreño managed to seize Santa Marta.Once the main square of the Spaniards on the Atlantic Coast was taken, the patriots, commanded by José María Córdoba, proceeded to take Cartagena, which was fulfilled on October 10, 1821, thus expelling the royalists from the territory of New Granada..After the surrender of the city, Córdoba entered the Masonic lodge Beneficencia.

Once confirmed as president of Gran Colombia, Bolívar initiated the campaign of the South and ordered José María Córdoba, together with Hermógenes Maza and the Alto Magdalena battalion, traveled via Panama to Guayaquil, where he was to meet with General Antonio José de Sucre.After many hardships, Córdoba and his men managed to join Sucre's forces.This confirmed him as the head of the Alto Magdalena battalion, and Maza was commissioned to pursue the guerrillas that operated in that area.

In the battle of Pichincha, Sucre and his hosts defeated the Spanish commander Pastor de Aymerich.Córdoba had a very prominent role in that battle.Six months after the triumph, he was promoted to brigadier general.It also contributed to the weakening of the forces royalist pastusas, commanded by the indigenous leader Agustín Agualongo; Following an order from Sucre, he made an enveloping movement while the Rifles battalion attacked from the front, in a maneuver that he carried out perfectly and managed to disperse the enemy army.

Córdoba requested permission to visit his family and, on the way to Antioquia, he met in Bogotá with Vice President Santander, who appointed him temporarily to the Cundinamarca arms command, replacing Antonio Nariño, with who Santander had a tough confrontation.In addition, Córdoba was appointed president of the Commission for the Distribution of Assets, a political move that the vice president devised to have the brilliant general by his side; but Córdoba did not allow himself to be involved in Santander's cunning and relations between the two deteriorated.Córdoba preferred to return to the south, to undertake the war in Peru.

In Popayán, on the way to Peru, the province's general commander, José María Ortega, ordered him to lead the army that had to face to the once rebellious Agustín Agualongo, seconded by Estanislao Mecharcano.Córdoba obeyed the mandate but had difficulties, as the rebels had managed to seize Pasto, and Popayán was in danger of falling into enemy hands.In addition, he was accused of the death of Sergeant José del Carmen Valdés.He left Popayán (without having succeeded in restraining the anachronistic rebel) on January 10, 1824, heading for Pasto, a city where he arrived on the 22nd and from which he immediately left for Peru, where Bolívar urgently required his services.

Regarding the sentimental life of José María Córdoba, it must be emphasized that, during his life in the military camps, his figure and his courage had made him very attractive to the opposite sex.He conquered women with the same ease with which he later distanced himself from them, and it seemed that he never satisfied his desire to love.Many ladies of all ranks passed through his sentimental scene.At the time of the liberation of Antioquia, when he was the general commander of the province, he had Manuela Morales and Leiva as a lover.

When he arrived in Peru, he was appointed Chief of Staff.In Junín the patriotic troops triumphed on August 6, 1824 over those of the Spanish commander José de Canteras.In Ayacucho, or "corner of the dead", on December 9, 1824, Córdoba's participation in the battle was final.With the famous cry "Division, head on.Weapons at will.Victors' step!", He launched a devilish onslaught that completely destroyed the royalist forces, commanded by the viceroy of Peru, José de la Serna.With that overwhelming victory, the independence of Peru was resolved and the Spanish colonial empire in South America was definitively liquidated.Upper Peru became Bolivia, and the European powers, France and England, as well as the United States, recognized the new nations.

Córdoba arrived in Cochabamba in October 1825, where he remained for a year as commander of the second division.On March 12, 1827, he resigned from office and arrived in Lima on the 27th.In April he embarked for Bogotá, on a ship in which Manuela Sáenz was also traveling; It is not known if because of love affairs or because of Córdoba's rejection of the Liberator's lover, the fact is that a deep hatred was born between them that would harm the general.On September 11, he arrived in Bogotá and was tried for the death of Valdés, an accusation of which he was acquitted.

When the conspiracy of September 25, 1828 took place, Córdoba unrestrictedly supported Bolívar, but a A fortuitous event (the embrace of one of the conspirators, Pedro Carujo) caused Manuela Sáenz to poison the relations between the Liberator and the hero of Ayacucho.However, Bolívar continued to support him and appointed him to go to Cauca and then to Neiva to fight the rebellion of Generals José Hilario López and José María Obando, who had defeated Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera and hindered the Liberator's plans to confront to the Peruvian troops of General Lamar, who had taken Ecuador.

Córdoba and Bolívar held a meeting in Popayán, on January 29, 1829; there the general advised the Liberator to leave the dictatorship and forgive the rebels López and Obando.Bolívar was annoyed with Córdoba's suggestions, but agreed to negotiate with the rebels and was able to continue to Ecuador.Córdoba was left as general commander of the province of Pasto, a position much lower than that held by General Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera, which hurt him a lot: he had greater merits than the Payan, although he was not as intriguing as that one.

Disappointed, Córdoba resigned his positions on June 21, 1829.Bolívar did not want to accept his resignation and appointed him Minister Secretary of State in the Department of the Navy, an important position in which, however, he didn't have much to do.Before a supposed monarchy of Bolívar, Córdoba definitively rebelled, left his positions and arrived in Rionegro on September 8, 1829.He organized an "Army of Freedom" and launched several proclamations in favor of the Constitution of Cúcuta, which were disseminated in Nueva Granada, Venezuela and Quito amid the general indifference.However, despite not having found many followers of his ideas, he launched into an insurrection.

To crush the rebellion in Córdoba, an army of eight hundred men was organized in Bogotá, with several foreign officers, under the command of Brigadier General Daniel Florencio O'Leary.Another contingent left Cartagena under the command of General Montilla and Lieutenant Colonel Gregorio Urueta.General Córdoba organized the defense, but the vile denunciation of one of his subordinates, Miguel Ramírez, allowed O'Leary's troops to advance safely.

The definitive confrontation took place on October 17, 1829 in the plain of El Santuario; the balance of forces was totally unfavorable to the hero of Ayacucho, since he only had three hundred men and fifteen horsemen.After a bloody combat, Córdoba found himself wounded and defenseless.O'Leary ordered Lieutenant Colonel of Irish origin Rupert Hand to kill Córdoba, and the subordinate complied with the criminal order, viciously murdering the hero of Ayacucho with his saber.

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