Jonas Halstead Coe (September 21, 1805 - October 30, 1864), sometimes given in Spanish as Comodoro Juan Coe, was an American-born naval commander, notable in the early naval history of

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

and

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

Early years

Coe was born in

Springfield Township, Union County, New Jersey Springfield Township is a township in Union County, New Jersey, United States. The township is located on a ridge in northern- central New Jersey, within the Raritan Valley and Rahway Valley regions in the New York metropolitan area. As of t ...

, in 1805.

Service history

In Peruvian waters

In 1824, at the age of 18, Coe joined the

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

an fleet, then commanded by Lord Cochrane, and served on board the

brig A brig is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are both square rig, square-rigged. Brigs originated in the second half of the 18th century and were a common type of smaller merchant vessel or warship from then until the ...

''Protector'' during the

Peruvian War of Independence The Peruvian War of Independence ( es, Guerra de Independencia del Perú, links=no) consisted in a series of military conflicts in Peru beginning with viceroy Abascal military victories in the south frontier in 1809, in La Paz revolution an ...

Cisplatine War

Serving as an officer in the Argentine fleet under

Admiral William Brown "Admiral William Brown" is a song written and first performed by the Wolfe Tones in 1982, the year of the Falklands War between Argentina and the United Kingdom. The song recounts the biography of Irish-Argentine admiral William Brown (1777–185 ...

, he achieved distinction in the battles of

Juncal Juncal is a civil parish in the municipality of Porto de Mós Porto de Mós () is a town and a municipality of Estremadura province in Leiria District. It is in the Centro Region and the Pinhal Litoral subregion. The population in 2011 was 24, ...

and Monte Santiago in the

Cisplatine War The Cisplatine War (), also known as the Argentine-Brazilian War () or, in Argentine and Uruguayan historiography, as the Brazil War (''Guerra del Brasil''), the War against the Empire of Brazil (''Guerra contra el Imperio del Brasil'') or t ...

that led to the Uruguayan independence in 1828.

Service in the Uruguayan Navy

After the war with

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, he moved to

Montevideo Montevideo () is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

and became a partisan of

Fructuoso Rivera José Fructuoso Rivera y Toscana (17 October 1784 – 13 January 1854) was a Uruguayan general and patriot who fought for the liberation of Banda Oriental from Brazilian rule, twice served as Uruguay's President and was one of the instigators ...

and the Colorado Party. At the beginning of the

Uruguayan Civil War The Uruguayan Civil War, also known in Spanish as the ''Guerra Grande'' ("Great War"), was a series of armed conflicts between the leaders of Uruguayan independence. While officially the war lasted from 1839 until 1851, it was a part of armed co ...

, he was given the rank of

commodore Commodore may refer to: Ranks * Commodore (rank), a naval rank ** Commodore (Royal Navy), in the United Kingdom ** Commodore (United States) ** Commodore (Canada) ** Commodore (Finland) ** Commodore (Germany) or ''Kommodore'' * Air commodore, a ...

and placed in command over the fledgling

Uruguayan Navy The National Navy of Uruguay () is a branch of the Armed Forces of Uruguay under the direction of the Ministry of National Defense and the commander in chief of the Navy (''Comandante en Jefe de la Armada'' or COMAR). History Independence Unde ...

's ''Escuadra Oriental'', consisting of the flagship ''Cagancha''; the

corvette A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the slo ...

s ''Constitución'', ''Sarandi'', and ''25 de Mayo''; the

''Pereyra''; and the

schooner A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoon ...

''General Rivera''. Although Brown's fleet was of similar size, Coe remained in harbor at Montevideo under the protection of the shore batteries for two months. On May 24, 1841, thinking Brown's forces to be scattered, he sailed out of the harbor only to be forced to retreat back in at dusk. He remained in harbor until August 3, when the Battle of

Santa Lucía River The Santa Lucía River ( es, Río Santa Lucía) is a river in Uruguay. Course The headwaters of the Santa Lucía River are in the Lavalleja department. For a large part of its course it forms the limit between the departments of Florida and San ...

saw the ''General Rivera'' sunk. In his third engagement on December 9, the Argentine brig ''Belgrano'' captured the ''Cagancha'' and all her crew.''Historia y Arqueologia Marítima''
-''Garibaldi: Combate de Costa Brava'' Following these reverses, President Rivera appointed Italian skipper

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 ...

to the rank of

colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...

and created the command of the ''2ª División de la Escuadra Oriental'', transferring most of Coe's ships to the new fleet. The new unit achieved some success before being routed by Admiral Brown in the battle of Costa Brava, on the

Paraná River The Paraná River ( es, Río Paraná, links=no , pt, Rio Paraná, gn, Ysyry Parana) is a river in south-central South America, running through Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina for some ."Parana River". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Br ...

. After this, the war simply became a siege of Montevideo, with Argentina and the Blancos in control of the sea, but the supply to the port was granted by Britain.

Return to Argentina

With the war in Uruguay over and Rosas overthrown in Argentina, Coe was appointed by

Justo José de Urquiza Justo José de Urquiza y García (; October 18, 1801 – April 11, 1870) was an Argentine general and politician who served as president of the Argentine Confederation from 1854 to 1860. Life Justo José de Urquiza y García was b ...

commander of the

Confederation A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a union of sovereign groups or states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

fleet which blockaded the city in the after the Province seceded from the central government, becoming the

State of Buenos Aires The State of Buenos Aires ( es, Estado de Buenos Aires) was a secessionist republic resulting from the overthrow of the Argentine Confederation government in the Province of Buenos Aires on September 11, 1852. The State of Buenos Aires was nev ...

in September 1852. Coe, aboard the steamer ''Constitución'', defeated a Buenos Aires flotilla 30 miles off

Martín García island Martín García Island ( es, Isla Martín García) is an island in the Río de la Plata. The island is in Uruguayan waters but in 1973 Uruguay and Argentina reached an agreement establishing Martín García as Argentine territory and a nature r ...

on April 18, 1853, when his squadron captured the enemy brigs ''Enigma'' and ''11 de Septiembre'' with 22 officers and 200 men. On June 26, however, Coe deserted to the United States aboard the American sloop USS ''Jamestown'' after being bribed by Buenos Aires' citizens.

Personal life

On July 7, 1828, Coe married Trinidad Balcarce, daughter of Argentine General Juan Ramon Balcarce and Trinidad García Balcarce, in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

.La Traición de Jonas Halstead Coe
The couple's first child, Dolores Coe Balcarce, was born in 1830.

Death and legacy

Coe eventually returned to Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he died on October 30, 1864, the father of ten children. His remains were buried at the family's grave in

La Recoleta cemetery La Recoleta Cemetery ( es, Cementerio de la Recoleta) is a cemetery located in the Recoleta, Buenos Aires, Recoleta Barrios and Communes of Buenos Aires, neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It contains the graves of notable people, includi ...

. He is the namesake of the ROU ''Comodoro Coe'' (07), a French-designed Vigilante-class patrol boat of the Uruguayan Navy commissioned in 1981.ROU 07 "Comodoro Coe "

References

Notes

Bibliography

External links

- ''Garibaldi: Combate de Costa Brava''
Jonas Halstead Coe
at

RootsWeb Ancestry.com LLC is an American genealogy company based in Lehi, Utah. The largest for-profit genealogy company in the world, it operates a network of genealogical, historical records, and related genetic genealogy websites. In November 2018, ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coe, Jonas 1805 births 1864 deaths Military history of Uruguay Uruguayan Navy officers American emigrants to Uruguay American emigrants to Argentina People of the Cisplatine War American expatriates in Chile American sailors Argentine Navy officers Burials at La Recoleta Cemetery People from Springfield Township, Union County, New Jersey People of the Peruvian War of Independence