Few people probably remember General Isidro Barradas but it was he who led the last, at least somewhat serious, effort to reclaim the independent Mexico and restore the country to the Spanish Crown. He was born on October 6, 1782 in Puerto de la Cruz on the Canary Islands. The modest family later moved to Venezuela where they had some family. Barradas was related to Francisco de Miranda who would go on to be the second President of the “States of Venezuela” from 1811 to 1812. When he was twenty Isidro Barradas joined the local militia and distinguished himself in repelling a landing from the British warship “Victory” in 1803. When the independence movement broke out in Venezuela, Barradas joined the royalist militia in 1812, aided in the capture of the rebel ship “Rosebud” and defended Carupano from a rebel attack the following year. His royalist sympathies were confirmed when republican troops executed his father in a wave of reprisals and his brother was killed in the course of the back-and-forth fighting between royalists and rebels as well. Because of his proven ability, Barradas was promoted to lieutenant in 1814 and he saw action in many subsequent battles. In 1816 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel for his heroic defense of the Plaza de San Fernando de Apure with only a few hundred men against a rebel force of nearly 4,000.
Throughout 1818 and 1819 Barradas fought with the Third Division of Brigadier Jose Marie Barreiro and he won further fame for his stirring speech and heroic charge at the battle of Pantano de Vargas on July 25, 1819 against Simon Bolivar. In that incident he dislodged some 500 rebel troops with only 80 grenadiers. He was commended by his general for this but not long after the royal army was all but wiped out in the disastrous August 7 battle of Boyaca, which Barradas only narrowly survived. Afterwards, Barradas moved to Cartagena de Indias, joining the garrison there and was given command of a grenadier company from Leon. In the ensuing battle of September 1, 1820 he was badly wounded but again cited for great heroism in the face of a numerically superior foe, earning the Cross of San Fernando for his bravery. Subsequently transferred to Cuba he was given command of a line battalion of infantry when King Fernando VII, after moving to Seville, received Barradas after being restored by the campaign of the “Sons of St Louis”. It was Barradas who was entrusted with the royal decree proclaiming the restoration of the absolute monarchy to be sent to the commanders in Cuba.
It was hoped that with the King firmly in control again that the royalists of Latin America could be prompted to rise up and overthrow the pro-independence governments that had taken hold and restore the Spanish empire. Barradas carried his messages, the local commanders came on side and Fernando VII was so grateful that he decorated Barradas, promoted him to colonel and granted him the honor to place on his family arms the motto “Faithful to the King”. Later, in 1824, Isidro Barradas was sent back to Cuba with reinforcements from his native Canary Islands. However, recruiting proved difficult as many people were themselves refugees from the wars in America and had little desire to return. However, he did his best but was frustrated when, upon arriving in Cuba, his unit was disbanded and the men parceled out to other battalions. Nonetheless, his value was still recognized as Barradas was appointed Governor of Santiago de Cuba with the command of a battalion in Havana. He served for a time as Military and Political Governor of Cuba and in 1828 was promoted to brigadier general.
Only the year before, the Mexican government has passed the “Law of Expulsion” which ordered the deportation of all foreigners in Mexico and the Spanish were particularly singled out. This greatly offended Spain and finally there was some international sympathy for taking action, particularly when the British Duke of Wellington said his country would not object to Spain attempting to regain Mexico. In the summer of 1829 Brigadier Isidro Barradas arrived in Havana and began gathering an expeditionary force of between three and four thousand men which he embarked for Mexico on July 5 in a fleet of one ship of the line, two frigates, two gunboats and fifteen transports. Many of the men assembled were Spaniards who had been expelled from Mexico and they had convinced Barradas that with just a little show of force the Mexican public would rise up to restore the authority of the King of Spain.
Unfortunately, things seemed to go badly from the start. A heavy storm in the Bay of Campeche dispersed the Spanish fleet and it took weeks for the ships to reassemble off Veracruz and one transport with 400 troops had to divert to New Orleans for repairs. When they finally moved off Cabo Rojo near Tampico the heavy seas made it almost impossible to land the troops. After scouting the area the Spanish finally put ashore and had a minor clash with a Mexican patrol on July 31 near Pueblo Viejo. Meanwhile, at Tampico, a Mexican army was assembling under General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. Although he lacked the numbers to launch an immediate assault, Santa Anna besieged the Spanish army at Pueblo Viejo. Despite what Barradas had been told the Mexicans did not rise up in support of Spain and the army of Santa Anna only grew stronger while the Spanish forces were weakened by fever, endemic in the coastal lowlands and exacerbated by the dwindling supply of food and clean water. Barradas held on, hoping for rescue or some political shift in Mexico but it was to no avail. Finally, on September 11, 1829 General Isidro Barradas had no choice but to surrender to the combined forces of General Santa Anna and General Manuel Mier y Teran.
Santa Anna was hailed as the savior of Mexican independence and he would later cash in on this victory to advance himself in politics. In reality, however, he had contributed very little to the victory. The Spanish army had not been defeated by the Mexicans but by disease and privation. General Barradas was released to New Orleans and from there traveled to New York and then across the ocean to France on his way back to Spain. However, his rivals preceded him there and spread the story that he had betrayed the King and surrendered his army without a fight in return for his own safe release. A warrant was issued for his arrest along with instructions that he should be sent back to Cuba for trial where, at the hands of his enemies, he would surely be executed. When Barradas learned of this, naturally, he refused to continue on to Spain and stayed in Paris. Aside from his own enemies, who were jealous of his record, the military high command also wished to blame him for the failure of the expedition rather than accept their own responsibility for what had been a botched operation from the start and almost certainly doomed to failure.
General Barradas remained in France for the rest of his life, having a son there and living in quite poor conditions. Yet, as King Fernando VII was on his deathbed, Barradas wrote him a last letter, asserting his innocence of the charges against him and pledging his loyalty to the King and his daughter Princess Isabella. After the King died the Carlist faction tried to enlist the support of General Barradas but, though he was somewhat sympathetic, refused to break his oath of loyalty to the new Queen Isabella II. He died in Marseille on August 14, 1835 after a lifetime of service to his King and country only to end it the victim of lies and injustice.
Juan Domingo de Monteverde y Rivas was one of the Spanish royalist leaders in the South American Revolutionary Wars and one of the later Captain-Generals of Venezuela. He was instrumental in bringing to ruin the first Venezuelan fall into republicanism. Juan Domingo de Monteverde was born in San Cristobal de la Laguna on the Canary Islands on April 2, 1773 to Stanislaus Monteverde and Francisca Rivas Lugo into a respected land-owning family. A bright youth, in 1785 he entered the La Villa Provincial Militia Regiment as a cadet but, like many of his background, he looked to the sea for his future and as a young man joined the proud ranks of the Royal Spanish Navy in 1789 as a midshipman in the department of Cadiz. He earned steady promotion and, as a young officer, served under Juan de Langara who, in alliance with the British Royal Navy under Admiral Samuel Hood, defended Toulon against the French revolutionaries.
He saw extensive service in the French revolutionary wars, fighting in the Battle of Cape St Vincent, at Gibraltar and participated in the epic battle of Trafalgar where he was wounded and taken prisoner. He was exchanged, returned to Cadiz and later fought the French during the Napoleonic invasion of Spain. He earned further promotion and decoration during the war. He was serving as a Frigate Captain when trouble began to boil over in the Spanish Empire in the Americas. In Caracas local republican revolutionaries declared independence from Spain and on July 5, 1811 proclaimed the First Republic of Venezuela with Francisco de Miranda as their commander. Captain Monteverde was dispatched to Cuba and Puerto Rico but was quickly transferred to Venezuela when the situation there got out of hand. His mission was to defeat the rebels and restore the authority of the Spanish Crown across the region. He arrived at Coro in March of 1812 with only a little over 200 marines, a priest, a surgeon and a little food.
Ever since the naval defeat at Trafalgar, Spain had been cut off from her colonies to a large extent and republican revolutionaries were quick to seize the opportunity. Spain had been devastated by the Peninsular campaign against the French and had little to send to the Americas, very few ships to send it and at a time when many American colonies had been incited against Spain, the Spanish themselves were most in need of resources from America. It was not an enviable position that Monteverde found himself in when he arrived. His only hope was to try to exploit the discontent the local people were beginning to feel due to the republicans promising much and delivering little. He had to encourage was divisions he could among the revolutionaries while concentrating all available royalist forces. He marched to Siquisique where he was reinforced by about 200 riflemen and 100 indigenous archers under “the Indian” Juan de los Reyes Vargas. With just over 1,500 men Monteverde decided to throw caution to the wind and advance deep into republican territory.
This was an unauthorized campaign and he was warned that going so far into enemy country, cutting himself off from his base at Coro would be extremely dangerous. Nonetheless, Monteverde’s bold gamble paid off and his troops captured Valencia, Barinas, Tocuyo and San Carlos. Since he had too few troops to leave behind garrisons in these cities, the republicans were able to re-occupy Valencia but Monteverde returned again and soundly defeated them, earning great acclaim across the Spanish Empire and a promotion to the post of Captain-General of Venezuela. As his army seemed to be the winning side, more people found the courage to volunteer for service and Monteverde gained enough confidence that he decided to seize the initiative and march on Caracas in what was hoped to be a successful sweep of all revolutionary forces in the country. General Francisco de Miranda commanded the rebel forces opposing Monteverde but he was forced to retreat again and again in the face of the patchwork royalist army.
Monteverde was assisted in his campaign by the divisive tactics and social arrogance of the republican elite which drove many middle and lower class locals into the ranks of the royalist army. His army entered Barquisimeto on April 2, 1812 after the population switched sides as a whole, rejecting republicanism and cheering the Crown of Spain. On May 3 his forces defeated a republican army in front of Valencia and then occupied the city. Miranda retreated again in the face of the royalist advance but finally was forced to give battle to try to stop Monteverde from seizing Caracas. The result was the Battle of San Mateo (aka La Victoria) on June 29, 1812. Prior Spanish attacks on the city had failed but many of the local populace had had enough and republican morale was broken when Spanish prisoners escaped and seized control of their prison along with a slave rebellion in Caracas. A cease-fire was negotiated and the first Venezuelan republic collapsed. Miranda was arrested and sent to Puerto Rico and later Spain with most of the republican elites fleeing the country rather than face justice for their treason. Monteverde was awarded the Cross of Carlos III for his victory in bringing down the republic and restoring the country to the Crown of Spain.
The republicans would, however, be back to bedevil the royalist cause and in the future would be under the more dangerous and capable leadership of Simon Bolivar. Spanish royalists also planned an offensive against the Republic of New Granada which had recently been proclaimed but events closer to home quickly overtook them. The following year, in 1813, Monteverde had to respond to another rebel invasion, which he did not managed to reverse but at least contained. However, it was at that critical junction that Simon Bolivar began his so-called “Admirable Campaign”. Monteverde had to redeploy his forces to Valencia to guard against those rebels already present as well as the threat of Bolivar coming down from the mountains. In many ways, he found himself in the same position Miranda had been in the year before. Public support for the Crown had also been diminished when their unrealistic expectations were not immediately fulfilled.
Having set out with only 300 men (his force growing to only 500 on the way to La Guaira) Monteverde’s royalists were outmanned and outgunned at every engagement with expected results. The odds were long against him but the outside threat was not his only concern. Defeatism was spreading in his own ranks as many officers began to ponder joining the revolutionary cause to further their own interests and be on the winning side. Yet, he continued on, aided by the Granada Regiment from Spain which he took from Puerto Cabello for an offensive against Valencia, in the center of his defensive line, which had fallen back into republican hands. With about a thousand men, Monteverde showed his usual zeal in combating the revolutionaries, being wounded in the battle known as Las Trincheras (the battle of the trenches) on October 3, 1813. However, he was outmatched and his army almost totally destroyed. His jaw had been almost totally shot away and he was no longer fit for front-line service. His officers finally persuaded him to hand over command and retire to Puerto Rico. In 1816 he returned home to Spain and finally died on September 19, 1832 in Cadiz with the rank of brigadier-general.
Monteverde’s career had ended on a sad note with two defeats and a terrible wound. However, he was a committed and capable servant of the King of Spain. His skill and daring succeeded in restoring royal authority and bringing down the first effort at republicanism in Venezuela. Had his successors met with similar success in the years after him, the history of the country, and much of South America as a whole, might have been considerably different.
