José Cienfuegos
José Cienfuegos Jovellanos , (born February 1, 1763 in Oviedo , Spain (according to other sources: 1768 in Gijón , Spain); † April 29, 1825 in Madrid , Spain) was a Spanish officer who served as governor of Cuba and for a few Weeks 1821 was Spanish Minister of War.
Life
José Cienfuegos was born as the second son of a wealthy noble family from Asturias . He had five brothers.
His father was Baltasar González de Cienfuegos, Count of Marcel de Penalba; his mother Benita de Jovellanos y Ramírez, whose family provided the Marquis of San Esteban. Her brother, José's maternal uncle, was the poet and statesman Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos .
José Cienfuegos entered the Segovia Military College as an artillery cadet at the age of 14 . In 1780 he was made a lieutenant. In July 1781 he was used in the reconquest of Menorca from the British , which the Spanish succeeded in April 1782.
He was then transferred to fight in the (unsuccessful) siege of Gibraltar (1779–1783) . In 1783 he was promoted to lieutenant.
In the First Coalition War against revolutionary France, he took part in the campaigns in Roussillon in 1793 and was promoted to captain. In 1795 he was appointed lieutenant colonel.
The following years saw transfers to different regions of Spain and promotion to colonel.
When the French occupied Spain under Napoleon Bonaparte in 1808 , he joined the ranks of the resistance in Oviedo. The Asturian junta gave him command of the fighters in the province, appointed him lieutenant general of the Asturian army and in May 1810 made him chair the war junta. In 1811 - still in the war of liberation against the Bonapartists - Cienfuegos was appointed commander of the Galician artillery and in 1812 the artillery chief of the 5th Army. In the same function he moved to the 3rd Army in 1813. After the victory over the French, he received a place on the council of war.
In 1816 he was appointed captain general and governor of Cuba to replace Juan Ruiz de Apodaca , who had become viceroy of New Spain. He renewed the island's defense system and ensured that the Spanish troops in Florida received adequate support as they were repeatedly exposed to attacks by forces from the United States .
Together with the Intendente Alejandro Ramírez, he implemented some reforms. At his own request, he was replaced in August 1819 and replaced by Juan María Echeverri .
He traveled back to Spain and found the country in turmoil after liberal forces rose against the absolutist rule of King Ferdinand VII . Despite his poor health, the Liberal government appointed Cienfuegos Minister of War for a few weeks in 1822.
When the king returned to absolutism with the help of the Holy Alliance and French troops in the fall of 1823 , Cienfuegos did not fall out of favor for his participation in the government, but returned to the council of war and was even appointed commander in chief of the artillery.
He died in Madrid in 1825.
Honors
The city of Cienfuegos on the south coast of Cuba was named in his honor in 1829.
Web links
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| Juan Ruiz de Apodaca |
Governor of Cuba 1816–1819 |
Juan María Echeverri |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Cienfuegos, José |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Cienfuegos Jovellanos, José (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Governor of Cuba |
| DATE OF BIRTH | uncertain: February 1, 1763 or 1768 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | unsure: Oviedo , Spain or Gijón , Spain |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 29, 1825 |
| Place of death | Madrid , Spain |