José de Córdova y Rojas (Museo Naval del Madrid)

José María Fernández de Córdoba y Rojas (also José de Córdoba) (6 April 1774 in

San Fernando, Cádiz San Fernando (, "Saint Ferdinand") is a town in the province of Cádiz, Spain. It is home to more than 97,500 inhabitants. The city also uses the name "''La Isla''" (The Island). The people from San Fernando are locally known as "''Cañaíllas''" ...

– 15 December 1810 in

Potosí Potosí, known as Villa Imperial de Potosí in the colonial period, is the capital city and a municipality of the Department of Potosí in Bolivia. It is one of the highest cities in the world at a nominal . For centuries, it was the location o ...

), was a Spanish military who played an important role in the early stages of the

Argentine War of Independence The Argentine War of Independence ( es, Guerra de Independencia de Argentina, links=no) was a secessionist civil war fought from 1810 to 1818 by Argentine patriotic forces under Manuel Belgrano, Juan José Castelli and José de San Martín a ...

. He was the son of

José de Córdoba y Ramos José de Córdoba y Ramos, (Utrera, September 26, 1732 – Cádiz, April 3, 1815), was a Spanish explorer and naval officer who sailed around the world and fought in several battles while in the service of the Spanish Navy. Biography Born into ...

, a vice admiral and commander of the Spanish fleet, who was defeated at the Battle of Cape St Vincent (1797) and who was consequently dismissed from service. José also served in the Spanish Navy and fought against the French (

Siege of Toulon The siege of Toulon (29 August – 19 December 1793) was a military engagement that took place during the Federalist revolts of the French Revolutionary Wars. It was undertaken by Republican forces against Royalist rebels supported by Anglo-Spa ...

) and English. In 1801, he travelled as frigate captain to the

Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata The Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata ( es, Virreinato del Río de la Plata or es, Virreinato de las Provincias del Río de la Plata) meaning "River of the Silver", also called "Viceroyalty of the River Plate" in some scholarly writings, in ...

. Here, distinguished he himself in repulsing the British invasions of the Río de la Plata in 1806 and 1807. In 1809 he entered the Army as major general under the orders of Vicente Nieto. In 1809 he was sent north to suppress the Chuquisaca Revolution. Córdoba and Nieto remained in the Charcas area, at the request of

José Fernando de Abascal y Sousa José Fernando de Abascal y Sousa, 1st Marquess of Concordia, KOS ( es, José Fernando de Abascal y Sousa, primer Marqués de la Concordia), (sometimes spelled ''Souza'') (June 3, 1743 in Oviedo, Asturias, Spain – June 30, 1821 in Madrid) was a ...

Viceroy of Peru The viceroys of Peru ruled the Viceroyalty of Peru from 1544 to 1824 in the name of the monarch of Spain. The territories under ''de jure'' rule by the viceroys included in the 16th and 17th century almost all of South America except eastern Brazi ...

. Here they learned from the

May Revolution The May Revolution ( es, Revolución de Mayo) was a week-long series of events that took place from May 18 to 25, 1810, in Buenos Aires, capital of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata. This Spanish colony included roughly the terri ...

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 ...

and the approach of the Army of the North. Nieto and Córdoba moved their army south and defeated the rebels in the

Battle of Cotagaita A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

. But on 7 November 1810 Nieto and Córdoba were decisively defeated in the

Battle of Suipacha The Battle of Suipacha was fought on 7 November 1810 in Bolivia during the Bolivian War of Independence between the Spanish colonial army and the Republican forces sent by the Primera Junta from Buenos Aires. At the time Bolivia was known as Upp ...

and taken prisoner. They were condemned to death and executed in Potosi.

Marriage and Children

He married María de la Paz Rodríguez de Valcárcel y O'Conrry and had at least 2 sons; *

Luis Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archaic ...

, general, diplomat and Marquis of Mendigorría *

Fernando Fernando is a Spanish and Portuguese given name and a surname common in Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Switzerland, former Spanish or Portuguese colonies in Latin America, Africa, the Philippines, India, and Sri Lanka. It is equivalent to the G ...

, military, politician, and Prime minister of Spain for one day {{DEFAULTSORT:Cordoba y Rojas, Jose Royalists in the Hispanic American Revolution 1774 births 1810 deaths Spanish people executed abroad Executed Spanish people 19th-century executions by Argentina Executed military leaders People from San Fernando, Cádiz People executed by Argentina by firing squad Spanish military personnel of the Napoleonic Wars