Luis Carrera
Luis Florentino Juan Manuel Silvestre de los Dolores de la Carrera y Verdugo (* 1791 in Santiago de Chile ; † (executed) April 8, 1818 in Mendoza , Argentina ) was a Chilean military and independence fighter. The youngest of the Carrera brothers took an active part in his country's war of independence.
Life
Luis Carrera was born to Ignacio de la Carrera and Francisca de Paula Verdugo Fernández de Valdivieso y Herrera. He received his training at the renowned Convictorio Carolino of Santiago.
During the reign of his older brother José Miguel he reached the rank of colonel in the artillery; In this rank he fought from 1813 in various battles against the royal troops in Chile. Among his brothers, he was distinguished by the greatest military skill.
The royalists captured him together with José Miguel and took him to Chillán . Both were expressly excluded from the prisoner exchange negotiated by the independence fighters in the Treaty of Lircay . The loyal to the king made it possible for them to flee in the hope of sowing a dispute among the independence fighters.
They succeeded. During the internal struggles of the groups within the independence movement, Luis Carrera defeated the troops of Bernardo O'Higgins in the Battle of Las Tres Acequias in 1814 .
At the Battle of Rancagua , Luis Carrera commanded the Third Division of the Independence Army. His involvement during this command became the subject of polemical differences: O'Higgins accused him of being too timid, while the Carrera supporters denied this and ascribed the defeat to O'Higgins, who had allowed himself to be placed in a tactically hopeless position .
After the devastating defeat, Luis Carrera went into exile with many other supporters of the independence movement in Mendoza in what is now Argentina. There he got caught up in his brother's power struggle with the local governor, José de San Martín . He and his brothers were arrested and taken to the remote settlement of San Luis .
For the family's predicament he blamed Brigadier Juan Mackenna , a confidante of O'Higgins, whom he had previously met in Mendoza. Luis saw in Mackenna's influence the real reason for the hostility of San Martín. When he got to Buenos Aires , he sent a message to Mackenna accusing him of making false accusations on his and his family's honor. He asked for satisfaction. On November 21, 1814 there was a duel in which he killed Mackenna. Luis Carrera was arrested and sentenced, but later released.
After the defeat of the loyal forces at the Battle of Chacabuco in February 1817, Luis planned to return to Chile with his sister Javiera and his brother Juan José - with the aim of freeing the monarchist prisoners and then taking over rule in Mendoza with a coup . The aim was to bring together an army large enough to regain government power in Chile.
On August 20, 1817, Luis and his brothers were arrested in Mendoza. On April 8, 1818, he was with his brother Juan José on the Plaza de Armas of Mendoza shot . Three hours earlier, word had spread of the victory of the Independence Army under San Martín and O'Higgins in the Battle of Maipu in the city.
Web links
- Diego Barros Arana : Historia Jeneral de la Independencia de Chile . Volume I-IV. Imprenta del Ferrocarril, Santiago, Chile 1855 (Spanish).
- Claudio Gay : Historia de la independencia Chilena . Volumes I and II. Imprenta de E. Thunot y Cia., Paris 1856 (Spanish, books.google.com ).
- Benjamin Vicuña Mackenna: El ostracismo de los Carreras: Los jenerales José Miguel i Juan José i el coronel Luis Carrera. Episodio de la independencia de Sud-America, by Benjamin Vicuña Mackenna . Imprenta del Ferrocarril, Santiago, Chile 1857 (Spanish, books.google.com ).
- José Zapiola: Recuerdos de treinta años (1810-1840) . Volumes I and II (1872-1876). Imprenta de El Independiente, Santiago, Chile (Spanish).
- Genealogical chart of Carrera family ( spanish ) Retrieved October 15, 2008.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Carrera, Luis |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Carrera y Verdugo, Luis Florentino Juan Manuel Silvestre de los Dolores de la (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Chilean military and independence fighter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1791 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Santiago de Chile |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 8, 1818 |
| Place of death | Mendoza , Argentina |