Bento Gonçalves da Silva (23 September 1788 – 18 July 1847), was a Brazilian army officer, politician and rebel leader of the

Riograndense Republic The Riograndense Republic, often called the Piratini Republic ( pt, República Rio-Grandense or ), was a ''de facto'' state that seceded from the Empire of Brazil and roughly coincided with the present state of Rio Grande do Sul. It was procla ...

. He was the first President of the Riograndense Republic and, by all accounts, one of the most prominent figures in the history of

Rio Grande do Sul Rio Grande do Sul (, , ; "Great River of the South") is a Federative units of Brazil, state in the South Region, Brazil, southern region of Brazil. It is the Federative_units_of_Brazil#List, fifth-most-populous state and the List of Brazilian st ...

. Although a staunch monarchist, Gonçalves led the rebel forces in the

Ragamuffin War The Ragamuffin War (Portuguese: ''Guerra dos Farrapos'' or ''Revolução Farroupilha'') was a Republican uprising that began in southern Brazil, in the province (current state) of Rio Grande do Sul in 1835. The rebels were led by generals Bento ...

. Radicals within the rebel ranks forced the rebellion to become republican, something that Gonçalves opposed. Still, even though he fought against the

Empire of Brazil The Empire of Brazil was a 19th-century state that broadly comprised the territories which form modern Brazil and (until 1828) Uruguay. Its government was a representative parliamentary constitutional monarchy under the rule of Emperors Dom Pe ...

, Gonçalves and his troops celebrated the birthday of the young emperor

Pedro II of Brazil Don (honorific), Dom PedroII (2 December 1825 – 5 December 1891), nicknamed "the Magnanimity, Magnanimous" ( pt, O Magnânimo), was the List of monarchs of Brazil, second and last monarch of the Empire of Brazil, reigning for over 58 years. ...

. After the conflict ended with the victory of the Empire, Gonçalves paid his respect to Pedro II by kissing his hand during the latter's trip to Rio Grande do Sul in December 1845. His main companions in arms during the rebellion were

Antônio de Souza Neto Antonio is a masculine given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the oth ...

and

Giuseppe Garibaldi Giuseppe Maria Garibaldi ( , ;In his native Ligurian language, he is known as ''Gioxeppe Gaibado''. In his particular Niçard dialect of Ligurian, he was known as ''Jousé'' or ''Josep''. 4 July 1807 – 2 June 1882) was an Italian general, patr ...

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Silva, Bento Goncalves Da 1788 births 1847 deaths Goncalves da Silva, Bento Goncalves da Silva, Bento Brazilian people of Portuguese descent Goncalves da Silva, Bento Heads of state of former countries