Julián Uribe

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Julián Uribe Rivas (* 1789 in Concepción , Chile , † late 1815 in the South Atlantic) was a Chilean clergyman, military and politician. As a member of the Junta de Gobierno , he ruled the country in 1814.

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Julián Uribe Rivas was born to Francisco Uribe and Javiera Rivas. Like his brother Juan José, Julián Uribe was ordained a priest, for purely economic reasons, according to his enemies. Both brothers were staunch advocates of Chile's independence. Radical in his views, Julian joined the Carrera brothers in the civil war .

In March 1813, expedition troops from the Spanish viceroyalty of Peru, led by Brigadier Antonio Pareja, set out with the aim of crushing the revolution in Chile. José Miguel Carrera took over the command of the army on the Chilean side and placed the invaders at Yerbas Buenas, San Carlos and Talcahuano . Carrera reached Concepción on May 25, 1813 and gave command of the city to a junta consisting of Uribe, another clergyman, Salvador Andrade, and the administrator Santiago Fernández.

After reinforcing his troops, Carrera and his army moved to Chillán to besiege the city. When the siege was over, the royalists planned an uprising in Concepción, which was militarily weak.

On August 13, the captain of the city fortress, Pedro Nolasco Vidal, exposed the conspiracy and the Concepción junta took hasty steps to protect the city center. In the memoirs of Vidal, who later became Colonel and Minister of War, of 1854, Uribe is certified as having "noble character and great action" in the preparation and defense of the city.

In January 1814, Carrera was replaced as commander in chief by Bernardo O'Higgins . He turned to Santiago de Chile with the intention of regaining power. Julian Uribe followed shortly afterwards.

On July 23, 1814, the Carreras put on a coup. At three in the morning this Saturday, Miguel Ureta (a relative of the Carreras) took the grenadier barracks, Toribio Rivera that of the Dragoons. Julián Uribe had headed 15 or 20 farm laborers in the Carreras estate; armed with carbines and pistols, they took over the capital's artillery barracks; They met no resistance, as the barracks commander sympathized with the putschists. Auxiliary troops from the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata, which had arrived in Santiago the previous evening, remained in the barracks of San Pablo under the leadership of Juan Gregorio de Las Heras and remained neutral.

When the barracks were under his command, Uribe had the cannons brought to the plaza and some side streets, at the same time he sent armed units to the Supreme Director , Francisco de la Lastra and his companions, the Army Chief Mackenna and the ruling mayor, Antonio José de Irisarri, arrested.

The coup took place within half an hour. At dawn, José Miguel Carrera took the lead in the movement.

Carrera set up a government junta, which he chaired himself, and which also included Uribe and Manuel Muñoz Urzúa . The members of the deposed government fled south and joined O'Higgins, who wanted to recapture government power. Meanwhile, Carrera, with the energetic support of Uribe, established a reign of terror in the city and prepared to oppose O'Higgins.

On August 11, 1814, Uribe was appointed Chile's first military vicar, although he retained his voting rights in the junta.

On August 26, Luis Carrera defeated O'Higgins' forces at the Battle of Las Tres Acequias . During the fighting, Uribe and a troop of horsemen patrolled the streets of Santiago, wearing the saber under the priestly dress to keep the city calm.

Towards evening he received the news of the victory. Uribe ordered the church bells to ring and lights to be lit in all houses. During the lively celebrations, there were acts of violence against political opponents and prisoners.

The precarious situation in the War of Independence soon overshadowed the internal Chilean conflicts. On August 13, 1814, an army loyal to the king, led by Mariano Osorio, set out in Talcahuano . At the end of the month, Captain Pasquel, authorized negotiator for Osorio, reached Santiago; Uribe had him imprisoned in violation of martial law. Faced with the attack by the Spaniards, O'Higgins decided to recognize the new junta, but in return asked Carrera to part with his intolerable companions Urzúa and Uribe. Carrera refused, whereupon O'Higgins insisted in vain that he should at least part with Uribe and replace him with the clergyman Isidro Pineda.

Meanwhile, Osorio marched on Santiago, where Uribe and Urzúa took tightened measures. Particular disgust aroused the action against the loyal citizen Romualdo Antonio Esponda, who was caught secretly preparing a flag to greet Osorio. He was arrested and driven through a military parade on a donkey shirtless on September 30 and then punished with 200 lashes in the presence of the local population. This punishment later served the royalists as a pretext to justify atrocities on their part.

When the first signs of the defeat of the independence troops at the Battle of Rancagua arrived, Uribe issued orders to evacuate the city and to collect all of the city's weapons and horses in the La Moneda presidential palace . This caused panic among the residents, who did not yet know about the defeat. The plans to defend Santiago were soon abandoned. Uribe, like the Carrera brothers and many other families of the independence movement, fled to Mendoza , Argentina , where they arrived on October 17th.

General José de San Martín , who ruled the province, had the choice of which of the Chilean freedom fighters to take as an ally. He chose O'Higgins and ordered the Carrera troops to be disarmed and to be taken to Buenos Aires with his followers, including Uribe .

On arrival there they found the support of General Carlos María de Alvear , who proclaimed himself Director Supremo of the Province of Río de la Plata against San Martín . Carrera, however, sought support in order to be recognized as the Chilean head of government and to begin an expedition to Coquimbo and thus take up the fight. Uribe devised a plan to attack the Spaniards in Chile and on the Pacific coast .

With the help of the adventurer and captain Andrés Barrios , the plan was to be implemented to hit the Spaniards by ship. Uribe was able to win the support of the Argentine fleet commander, Guillermo Brown , who contributed Argentine ships that were still decommissioned to the company. In addition to Chileans, men from other nations were also willing to take part.

The departure was delayed by political upheaval in Argentina, where Alvear faced a number of opponents. Carreras had meanwhile traveled to the USA . In September 1815 Barrios finally received the government's driving license; at the last moment, however, he was replaced by Colonel Oliverio Russell .

Uribe's instructions were broad: attack, arrest or set fire to any ship flying the Spanish flag, block the Spanish possessions on the Pacific, and gather information on the general situation in Chile and Peru, as far as land or naval forces of the royalists or the independents were concerned Gaining approval of the insurgents and giving support for their actions and secretly disseminating revolutionary pamphlets, etc., etc.

The news that King Ferdinand VII wanted to send an expeditionary force to the Río de la Plata, moved the Argentine government under Alvarez Thomas to keep Brown in the country and give him command of the fleet on the Río de la Plata . The Pacific expedition was put into the hands of his brother Miguel in his stead .

At the end of 1815, the fleet of four ships (in addition to the frigates Constitución and Hércules , the Briggs Trinidad and Halcón ) finally set out for the South Atlantic and reached Cape Horn , where they encountered very adverse weather (storms, precipitation and fog).

Brown's division had great difficulty turning to Cape Horn and was carried far south (to 65 ° south). There he found himself with clear visibility, clear weather and an ice-free sea, which Brown took as a sign that land must be near. Brown had left the South Shetland Islands behind and been driven into the Bellingshausen Sea . From there he crossed the Strait of Magellan and reached the Pacific; on the Isla de la Mocha he united with Hipólito Bouchard , the commander of the Halcón . Together they then went on their pirate voyage to the Pacific.

The Constitución was also carried into Antarctic waters, but its heavy cargo (it was fully loaded with weapons and ammunition for the upcoming fighting) probably drowned it with the entire crew, including Uribe. The fate and the exact sinking position (in the area of ​​the South Shetland Islands) are just as little known as the exact date of their sinking.

literature

  • Angel Justiniano Carranza, Campañas Navales de la República Argentina , Volume I - Tomos 1 y 2, Secretaria de Estado de Marina, 1962.
  • Angel Justiniano Carranza, Campañas Navales de la República Argentina , Volume III - Notas a los Tomos 1 and 2, Secretaria de Estado de Marina, 1962.
  • José Toribio Medina, Estudios históricos, biográficos, críticos y bibliográficos sobre la independencia de Chile , Volúmenes 3-4, Santiago de Chile, Fondo Histórico y Bibliográfico José Toribio Medina, 1964
  • Diego Barros Arana, Historia general de Chile , Volume 9, Editorial Universitaria, 2000

Web links

Wikisource: Diario Militar de José Miguel Carrera  - Sources and full texts (Spanish)