Miguel de la Torre

Miguel de la Torre, painting by Eliab Metcalf, 1826

Miguel de la Torre (born December 13, 1786 in Bernales , Spain , † 1843 in Madrid ) was a Spanish field marshal . He was commander in chief of the Spanish expeditionary army in Venezuela , provincial governor and captain general .

Life

Career start in the coalition wars

Miguel de la Torre joined the Spanish army at the age of 14 and made the leap into the Guard Corps in 1804, where he remained until the Portugal campaign. During the Napoleonic Wars he earned several promotions until he was promoted to colonel in 1814 .

With Morillo in South America

The following year he led the Victoria Regiment in the wake of Pablo Morillo to Venezuela, was involved in the capture of Cartagena de Indias on December 6, 1815 in New Granada (now Colombia ) and then marched with Sebastian de la Calzada to Bogotá , the beginning May 1816 fell. In the same month he left Bogotá as brigadier general, still with de la Calzada, for a campaign against the insurgents in Casanare . After its unsatisfactory conclusion, he led the reinforcements for Angostura from Casanare (eastern Colombia) to Venezuela as brigadier general. Even the meeting with the riders of José Antonio Paez at Mucuritas (cattle breeding in the municipality of El Samán de Apure, approx. 125 km west of San Fernando , state of Apure ) in January 1817 could not deter him and he defended with the remaining troops in the middle of the year Angostura (now Ciudad Bolívar ) against Manuel Piar and Simón Bolívar . His attempt to advance further to Ciudad Guayana was thwarted by Piar near San Felix (today the most eastern outskirts of Ciudad Guayana) on April 11, 1817. The heavy losses of the Spaniards resulted in the capture of Angostura in mid-July. De la Torre organized the retreat on the Orinoco to Ciudad Guayana, but could not hold out here either and was subsequently intercepted by Luis Brion's patriot fleet and almost completely wiped out.

In December de la Torre defeated Pedro Zaraza, who had been waiting in vain for the Bolívar, who was already on the way with reinforcements, at La Hogaza ( Guárico , approx. 90 km WSW of the city of Zaraza). Both generals were wounded. During the subsequent center campaign Bolívar drove him out at Las Cocuizas (Guárico, approx. 65 km SSE Calabozo), but de la Torre joined him at the Battle of the Semen (creek in the La Puerta Gorge, Guárico) on March 16 hard-pressed Pablo Morillo. He took over in the next few days because of an injury Morillos command of the expeditionary force and (35 km SSE of San Juan de los Morros Guárico) entrenched himself successful in Ortíz A trip to Cojedes in May he paid against far inferior Paez, of him attack, with high losses. He was also wounded. Still, he was close to Calabozo in time to intercept Manuel Cedeño's advance at the end of the month. On the lancers of Paez he failed in January 1819 before San Fernando de Apure.

Commander in Chief in Venezuela

When, after the capture of Bogotá by the separatists, Carlos Soublette marched from New Granada to Apure to Paez in September 1819, he tried to evade the battle, but Soublette stopped him on the 24th at Las Cruces and forced him to draw, before this systematically united with the Llaneros of Paez. De la Torre was involved in the preparation and implementation of the armistice of Santa Ana near Trujillo in 1820. After the resulting withdrawal of Morillo, he held the post of last governor and captain general and was supreme commander of the Spanish armed forces in Venezuela with the rank of field marshal.

He could not oppose Bolívar's preparations for the Battle of Carabobo and was finally defeated at the meeting on June 24, 1821 and fled via La Guaira ( Vargas port of Caracas, approx. 15 km north of it), where only a French troop was captured, but could not prevent his surrender to Puerto Cabello . Notwithstanding the siege of the fortified port, he attempted to retake Coro from sea at the end of the year . Despite initial success, he had to surrender in the La Vela port of Coro. Although he was spared after the Trujillo Agreement, his marriage to a South American woman (who is said to be related to Bolívar) deprived him of the legitimation to continue working for the Spanish crown in Venezuela. Francisco Tomás Morales , meanwhile also Field Marshal, took over the supreme command of the remnants of the royal troops from him and offered resistance for over a year.

After the wars of liberation

De la Torre was called in December 1823 as captain general to Puerto Rico, from where he repeatedly sent commands to Venezuela to support the remaining royalists in uprisings. When he was due to be replaced in 1830, he was backed by the Council of Puerto Rico and his term of office was extended. After the restoration of the constitution of Cádiz in Puerto Rico in 1836, he was made Count of Pando (also Torrepando) and returned to Spain the following year. Here de la Torre took up residence in Madrid, where he stayed until his death.

literature

• Universidad de los Andes, Trujillo, Venezuela. Short biography ⇒ Personajes de la Guerra de Independencia, page 21
• About his work in the war of liberation in South America from chapter 5.2. Colombia, especially in chapter 5.2.5. Tunja, Pamplona, ​​El Soccoro and Casanare with additional texts and then in the Venezuela chapters up to 1823 table of contents