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Pablo Morillo y Morillo | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Captain General of Venezuela | |
| In office 1815–1816 | |
| Monarch | Ferdinand VII |
| Preceded by | Juan Manuel Cajigal |
| Succeeded by | Salvador de Moxó |
| In office 1819–1820 | |
| Preceded by | Juan Bautista Pardo |
| Succeeded by | Miguel de la Torre |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 5 May 1775 |
| Died | 27 July 1837 (1837-07-28) (aged 62) |
| Signature |  |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | Kingdom of Spain |
| Branch/service | Spanish Navy (1792–1808) Spanish Army from 1808 |
| Rank | Lieutenant General |
| Commands | Ejército Expedicionario de Tierra Firme |
| Battles/wars | |
Pablo Morillo y Morillo, Count of Cartagena and Marquess of La Puerta, a.k.a.El Pacificador (The Pacifier) (5 May 1775 – 27 July 1837) was a Spanish military officer who fought in theNapoleonic Wars and in theSpanish American Independence Wars. He fought against French forces in thePeninsular War, where he gained fame and rose to the rank of Field Marshall for his valiant actions.[1] After the restoration of the Spanish Monarchy, Morillo, then regarded as one of theSpanish Army's most prestigious officers,[2] was named by KingFerdinand VII as commander-in-chief of the Expeditionary Army of Costa Firme with the goal to restore absolutism inSpain's possessions in the Americas.[3]
Born to a peasant family inFuentesecas,Spain, at the age of 16 he joined theSpanish Navy as part of theSpanish Marine Infantry, where fought in theBattle of Cape St. Vincent and theBattle of Trafalgar; both times he would be takenprisoner. After the outbreak of the Peninsular War, Morillo left the Spanish Navy and joined theSpanish Army and fought at theBattle of Bailen under the command ofGeneral Castaños; he would also be present at theBattle of Vitoria. He rose through the ranks quickly during the war. His actions at theBattle of Puente Sanpayo won him fame, as he commanded an army that defeatedMarshal Ney and forced theFrench army to evacuateGalicia.[2]
After the end of the war, in 1814, Morillo was named Captain General of Venezuela and given command of an Expeditionary Army to defeat the rebellions inNew Granada andVenezuela. This expeditionary force of 60 ships and 10,000 men left Spain in early 1815, arriving in Venezuela in the spring of 1815. Morillo led a successful campaign toreconquer New Granada. His victory at the Siege of Cartagena earned him the title of Count of Cartagena. He successfully reconquered New Granada in 1816 and ordered the execution of various independence leaders as well as the confiscation of their assets.
In 1817, he returned to Venezuela, whereSimon Bolivar had begun a new campaign toliberate Venezuela from Spanish rule. He fought Bolivar to a stalemate, then he managed to best him at the Third Battle of La Puerta in 1818, where he was wounded and successfully defended the capital,Caracas, from Boilvar's forces. This earned him the title of Marquess of La Puerta. Afterthe loss of New Granada in 1819, the war shifted, and in 1820 Morillo signed an armistice with Bolivar and later also signed the treaty on "War Regularization." After repeated requests for retirement, Morillo was finally given royal approval and returned to Spain in 1821.[1] After his service in South America he was appointed Captain General of New Castille in May 1821, a position from which he resigned the following year. In 1832 he was appointed captain general of Galicia, a position he left for health reasons in 1835. He died in the French city of Baregés, where he had gone to take medicinal baths, on July 27, 1837.[2]
In 1791, he enlisted in the Real Cuerpo de Infantería de Marina (Spanish Royal Marine Corps) and during theWar of the First Coalition participated in thelanding operation on San Pietro Island in 1793, as part of the campaign that repelled theFrench expedition to Sardinia[4] and later that year was wounded at theSiege of Toulon.[4]
During theWar of the Pyrenees, he took part in theSiege of Roses (1794–1795).[4]
During theAnglo-Spanish War (1796–1808), Morillo saw action at theBattle of Cape St. Vincent (1797), on board theSan Isidro, which was captured and he was taken prisoner.[4] The following October he was promoted to sergeant and sent to Cadiz, where he took part in the defense of the city following the Britishassault and blockade.[4]
At theBattle of Trafalgar (October 1805), he was wounded while serving on board theSan Ildefonso, which was captured. Morillo then spent the following three years at the barracks at Cadiz awaiting an assignment on one of the few Spanish ships that survived the defeat.[4]
With the outbreak of the War, Morillo left the Spanish Navy to enlist in theLlerena Voluntary Corps, in which, given his military experience, he was made a sub-lieutenant. In June 1808, he saw action at theBattle of Bailen[4] and, later that year, saw action at Elvas, Almaraz and Calzada de Oropesa.[4] He was promoted to lieutenant that December.[4] The following January he was promoted to captain and sent to Vigo, in Galicia, where the commander of the French garrison, besieged by guerrilleros, refused to capitulate to civilians and demanded the presence of a high-ranking officer.[4]
Morillo's rank was not accepted, but as the only officer present, the besiegers appointed him their colonel, and he was thus able to negotiate the terms of capitulation.[4] Regarding this incident,Oman (1903), citing various sources, offers a different version of the events at Vigo.[5][note 1]
Following the capitulation of Vigo, MarshalNey occupied Santiago de Compostela, and headed towards Vigo. Morillo's troops intercepted the French force, and at theBattle of Puente Sanpayo, forced it to retreat.[4]
Once the war ended and theSpanish monarchy was restored, on August 14, 1814, KingFerdinand VII of Spain appointed Field Marshall Morillo as Commander of the Expeditionary Army of the Americas with the purpose of quashing the rebellion and restoring order in theViceroyalty of Rio de la Plata. This expeditionary force would be recruited and organized in the port cityCadiz, a large effort was expended to acquire a large number of troops and amount of material that would keep them well supplied, despite this however morale was low and the expedition was unpopular amongst the troops due to the long journey, tropical diseases, and the nature of warfare being conducted in Spanish America. As a result of this sentiment by December 1814 all troops bound for the Americas were restricted to their barracks and heavily monitored to prevent desertion.[6]
On February 17, 1815, Morillo aboard of theship of the lineSan Pedro Alcántara set sail fromCadiz bound forMontevideo with a fleet of 18 warships and 42 cargo ships along with some 10,400 troops with the majority of these troops being veterans of the Peninsular War. Unknown to his troops in November 1814 Morillo had been secretly informed that his destination would be changed, the new orders from the Spanish Government were to sail toCosta Firme to put an end to the rebellion in New Granada and Venezuela, with this new mission the King named him Captain General of Venezuela in order to have all of the legal authority in order to reconquest that province.[1] Morillo did not inform his troops of this decision until February 25, 1815, with the expedition well underway at sea which caused his troops to express further discontent as they had heard about how the war in Venezuela wasa war to the death, Morillo would also be promoted to Lieutenant General during this journey.[6] On 6 April the Expedition disembarked inCarupano andIsla Margarita off the coast of Venezuela, with the mission to pacify the revolts against the Spanish monarchy in the American colonies. Later, while heading to Cumaná, the San Pedro Alcántara exploded and sank between Coche and Cubagua on April 25. The loss of a thousand crew members and a million pesos that the ship was carrying meant that Morillo quickly traveled to the mainland and left a small garrison in Pampatar. He travelled toLa Guaira,Caracas,Puerto Cabello,Santa Marta andCartagena de Indias (United Provinces of New Granada) in a military campaign to fightSimon Bolívar's revolutionary armies.
On 22 August 1815, Morillo put the walled city ofCartagena under siege for 105 days,[7] preventing any supplies from going in until 6 December that year, when the Spanish Royal Army entered the city. In a letter written to the Viceroy of PeruJosé Fernando de Abascal y Sousa dated December 7, Morillo informed the viceroy of the victory with minimal damage done to its fortifications and the capture of a large amount of artillery pieces and ample amounts of gunpowder he also described the level of starvation within the city where estimated that some 2000 Cartagenians where suffering from starvation.[8]
The victory over the republicans in Cartagena led to the King granting Morillo the titleCount of Cartagena. With control over Cartagena, Morillo continued with theReconquest of New Granada marching south from Cartagena into the interior in tandem with BrigadierJuan de Samano's troops marching north from the Royalist strongholds ofQuito andPasto along with Colonel Sebastián de la Calzada's troops marching west from Venezuela. This campaign would culminate with the fall of the capital,Santa Fe, when his second-in-command GeneralMiguel de la Torre assaulted the practically undefended city on May 6, 1816,[9] Morillo himself entered the city on May 26.[1]
Upon entering the capital an amnesty which had been granted by Brigadier de la Torre was revoked, and Morillo began aReign of Terror in the city.[1] The various leaders and intellectuals who had participated in the Juntas of 1810 and that were part of the Neogranadine independence movement were arrested and tried before aconsejo de guerra which judged the accused of treason and rebellion, this resulted in the execution of more than a hundred notable Republican officials with many being executed in the mainplaza of Santa Fe such asCamilo Torres Tenorio,Francisco Jose de Caldas, andJorge Tadeo Lozano as well as countless others.
He then returned to Venezuela to continue the fight against revolutionaries, where Simón Bolívar had just returned from his exile in Haiti in a renewed effort to liberate Venezuela from Spanish rule. The Venezuelan patriots were able to capture the city of Angostura and made it their capital establishing the Third Republic of Venezuela.
He fought Bolivar forces to a stalemate, then he managed to best him at theThird Battle of La Puerta in 1818, where he was wounded and successfully defended the capital, Caracas, from Boilvar's attack. This earned him the title of Marquess of La Puerta. After the loss of New Granada in 1819, the war shifted, and in 1820 Morillo signed an armistice with Bolivar and later also signed the treaty on "War Regularization."
In June 1820, Morillo, under Royal mandate, ordered that everyone in the colonies obey theCadiz Constitution and sent delegates to negotiate withBolivar and his followers. Bolivar and Morillo later met in the Venezuelan town ofSanta Ana and signed a six-months'armistice followed by a second one named "War Regularization".
Morillo returned to Spain, was named General Captain ofNew Castile, and supported the Liberal Constitution during theLiberal Triennium. He prevented a coup against the Constitution in 1822, and fought in 1823 theFrench invasion underLouis-Antoine, Duke of Angoulême in the north of Spain, where he was defeated.
When King Ferdinand VII restored the absolute regime in 1823, Morillo went to France. A few years later, he returned to Spain and participated in some military operations during theCarlist Wars. He felt ill and went back to France where he died on 27 July 1837, inBarèges.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.| Military offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Capitan General of Venezuela 1815–1816 | Succeeded by Salvador de Moxó |
| Preceded by Juan Bautista Pardo | Capitan General of Venezuela 1819–1820 | Succeeded by |
