Martín Miguel de Güemes
Encyclopedia
Martín Miguel de Güemes (8 February 1785 – 17 June 1821) was a military leader and popular caudillo
Caudillo
Caudillo is a Spanish word for "leader" and usually describes a political-military leader at the head of an authoritarian power. The term translates into English as leader or chief, or more pejoratively as warlord, dictator or strongman. Caudillo was the term used to refer to the charismatic...

who defended northwestern Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

 from the Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 during the Argentine War of Independence
Argentine War of Independence
The Argentine War of Independence was fought from 1810 to 1818 by Argentine patriotic forces under Manuel Belgrano, Juan José Castelli and José de San Martín against royalist forces loyal to the Spanish crown...

.

Biography

Güemes was born in Salta
Salta
Salta is a city in northwestern Argentina and the capital city of the Salta Province. Along with its metropolitan area, it has a population of 464,678 inhabitants as of the , making it Argentina's eighth largest city.-Overview:...

 into a wealthy family, and was sent to study at the Royal College of San Carlos in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...

. At 23 he started his military career and took part in the defense of Buenos Aires during the British invasions of the Río de la Plata
British invasions of the Río de la Plata
The British invasions of the Río de la Plata were a series of unsuccessful British attempts to seize control of the Spanish colonies located around the La Plata Basin in South America . The invasions took place between 1806 and 1807, as part of the Napoleonic Wars, when Spain was an ally of...

, where Güemes achieved notability when he and his cavalrymen charged and took over the armed British merchantman Justine, moored in shallow waters. After the formation of the first local government junta in the May Revolution
May Revolution
The May Revolution was a week-long series of events that took place from May 18 to 25, 1810, in Buenos Aires, capital of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, a Spanish colony that included roughly the territories of present-day Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay...

 of 1810, he joined the army destined to fight the Spanish troops at the Upper Peru
Upper Peru
Upper Peru was the region in the Viceroyalty of Peru, and after 1776, the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, comprising the governorships of Potosí, La Paz, Cochabamba, Los Chiquitos, Moxos and Charcas...

, which was victorious in the Battle of Suipacha
Battle of Suipacha
The Battle of Suipacha was fought on 7 November 1810 in Bolivia during the Bolivian War of Independence between the Spanish colonial army and the Republican forces sent by the Primera Junta from Buenos Aires. At the time Bolivia was known as Upper Peru . It was the first decisive defeat of the...

 (in present-day Bolivia
Bolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...

). He then returned to Buenos Aires and took part in the siege of Montevideo
Montevideo
Montevideo is the largest city, the capital, and the chief port of Uruguay. The settlement was established in 1726 by Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, as a strategic move amidst a Spanish-Portuguese dispute over the platine region, and as a counter to the Portuguese colony at Colonia del Sacramento...

.

Güemes returned to Salta in 1815, and organized the resistance against the royalists (forces loyal to Spain) employing local gaucho
Gaucho
Gaucho is a term commonly used to describe residents of the South American pampas, chacos, or Patagonian grasslands, found principally in parts of Argentina, Uruguay, Southern Chile, and Southern Brazil...

s trained in guerrilla tactics. He was appointed Governor of Salta Province and in November of that year, General José Rondeau
José Rondeau
José Casimiro Rondeau Pereyra was a general and politician in Argentina and Uruguay in the early 19th century.-Biography:...

, appointed leader of the Peru campaign to replace José de San Martín
José de San Martín
José Francisco de San Martín, known simply as Don José de San Martín , was an Argentine general and the prime leader of the southern part of South America's successful struggle for independence from Spain.Born in Yapeyú, Corrientes , he left his mother country at the...

, suffered a defeat and attempted to take weapons from Salta's gauchos. Güemes refused and the Supreme Director of the Provinces of the Río de la Plata, Ignacio Álvarez Thomas
Ignacio Álvarez Thomas
José Ignacio Álvarez Thomas was a South American military commander and politician of the early 19th century....

, sent troops to help Rondeau. Eventually an agreement was reached, by which Güemes would continue to lead his forces and would help the armies sent from Buenos Aires.

Days later, the new Supreme Director Juan Martín de Pueyrredón
Juan Martín de Pueyrredón
Juan Martín de Pueyrredón y O'Dogan was an Argentine general and politician of the early 19th century. He was appointed Supreme Director of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata after the Argentine Declaration of Independence.-Early life:Pueyrredón was born in Buenos Aires, the fifth of...

 had to address suspicions about Güemes's ability by travelling to Salta, and was so pleased with what he found that he promoted Güemes to colonel major. Generals José de San Martín and Manuel Belgrano
Manuel Belgrano
Manuel José Joaquín del Corazón de Jesús Belgrano , usually referred to as Manuel Belgrano, was an Argentine economist, lawyer, politician, and military leader. He took part in the Argentine Wars of Independence and created the Flag of Argentina...

 supported Güemes as well. A letter from the royalist general Joaquín de la Pezuela
Joaquín de la Pezuela
Joaquín de la Pezuela Griñán y Sánchez Muñoz de Velasco, 1st marquis of Viluma was a Spanish military officer and viceroy of Peru during the War of Independence.-Background:...

 to the Viceroy of Peru
Viceroyalty of Peru
Created in 1542, the Viceroyalty of Peru was a Spanish colonial administrative district that originally contained most of Spanish-ruled South America, governed from the capital of Lima...

 explained that Güemes's army was waging, "almost with impunity, a slow but tiring and harmful war."

At the beginning of 1817, the royalist Marshal José de la Serna marched on Salta Province with a large force of experienced soldiers. Güemes organized a popular army and, on 1 March, retook Humahuaca
Humahuaca
Humahuaca is a city in the province of Jujuy, Argentina. It has 11,369 inhabitants as per the , and is the principal town of the Department of Humahuaca...

. The royalist army of 5,400 men, with newly arrived reinforcements, was met with a scorched earth
Scorched earth
A scorched earth policy is a military strategy or operational method which involves destroying anything that might be useful to the enemy while advancing through or withdrawing from an area...

 retreat combined with continuous guerrilla attacks. De la Serna arrived in Salta City on 16 April, but the population resisted. Faced with lightning skirmishes, declining morale and the news of San Martín's victory in the Battle of Chacabuco
Battle of Chacabuco
The Battle of Chacabuco, fought during the Chilean War of Independence, occurred on February 12, 1817. The Army of the Andes of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata led by General Captain José de San Martín defeated the Spanish force led by Rafael Maroto...

, the royalist troops retreated to the north.
Güemes was then left to his own devices, as San Martín was forced to stay in Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

 for three years and Belgrano was recalled to Santa Fe Province
Santa Fe Province
The Invincible Province of Santa Fe, in Spanish Provincia Invencible de Santa Fe , is a province of Argentina, located in the center-east of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the north clockwise Chaco , Corrientes, Entre Ríos, Buenos Aires, Córdoba, and Santiago del Estero...

 to fight the federalist supporters of José Gervasio Artigas
José Gervasio Artigas
José Gervasio Artigas is a national hero of Uruguay, sometimes called "the father of Uruguayan nationhood".-Early life:Artigas was born in Montevideo on June 19, 1764...

 on behalf of the centralist government of Buenos Aires, now presided by Rondeau. In March 1819 a new royalist army invaded the northwest of Argentina. Güemes did not obtain reinforcements and resorted to extorting money by force from the upper-class landowners of Salta. In February 1820 another wave of Spanish troops invaded San Salvador de Jujuy
San Salvador de Jujuy
San Salvador de Jujuy , commonly known as Jujuy and locally often referred to as San Salvador, is the capital city of Jujuy Province in northwest Argentina. It lies near the southern end of the Humahuaca Canyon where wooded hills meet the lowlands....

 and Salta, but were eventually repelled.

The year 1820 marked the beginning of a long civil war in Argentina, with provinces fighting among themselves and with Buenos Aires, after the fall of the central government following the Battle of Cepeda
Battle of Cepeda (1820)
The Battle of Cepeda of 1820 took place on February 1 in Cañada de Cepeda, Santa Fe, Argentina.It was the first major battle that saw Unitarians and Federals as two constituted sides. Federal League Provinces of Santa Fe and Entre Ríos joined forces to topple the 1819 centralist Constitution, and...

. Güemes found himself with enemies on two fronts: the royalist troops in the north, and Bernabé Aráoz, governor of Tucumán
Tucumán Province
Tucumán is the most densely populated, and the smallest by land area, of the provinces of Argentina. Located in the northwest of the country, the capital is San Miguel de Tucumán, often shortened to Tucumán. Neighboring provinces are, clockwise from the north: Salta, Santiago del Estero and...

, in the south. Aráoz had struck an alliance with Salta's rich landowners, opposed to Güemes, and defeated him on 3 April 1821. The Cabildo of Salta, dominated by conservatives, deposed Güemes from the governorship. His gauchos retook power in May. Soon, however, colonel José María Valdés, a local military in the service of Spain, took advantage of his knowledge of the terrain, promised the landowners to respect their properties, and with their support he occupied Salta again on 7 June. Güemes fled the city, but was shot in the back. He managed to get to his camp at Chamical
Chamical
Chamical is a municipality and village in La Rioja Province in northwestern Argentina.-References:...

, gave the last orders to his army and died on 17 June. His men retook Salta from the royalists, this time permanently, on 22 July.

In popular culture

The 1942 film, La Guerra Gaucha
La Guerra Gaucha
La guerra gaucha is a 1942 Silver Condor award winning Argentine historical drama and epic film directed by Lucas Demare and starring Enrique Muiño, Francisco Petrone, Ángel Magaña, and Amelia Bence. The film's script, written by Homero Manzi and Ulyses Petit de Murat, is based on the novel by...

, is set in the wars in which Güemes fought.

External links

El Historiador. Martín Miguel de Güemes, by Felipe Pigna. Chamber of Deputies of Salta. Biography of Martín Miguel de Güemes.
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