Juan José Viamonte González (February 9, 1774 – March 31, 1843) was an
Argentine general in the early 19th century.
Life and Politics
Viamonte was born 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 ...
and entered the army in his youth following in his father's footsteps. He fought in the
First British Invasion with the rank of
lieutenant
A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations.
The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...
, and after his participation in the Second Invasion, having distinguished himself in the defense of the Colegio de San Carlos, was promoted to
captain.
He took part on the
Buenos Aires Cabildo
The Cabildo of Buenos Aires ( es, Cabildo de Buenos Aires) is the public building in Buenos Aires that was used as seat of the town council during the colonial era and the government house of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata. Today the bu ...
of May 22, 1810 and after the
revolution
In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...
he fought at the battles of
Suipacha and
Huaqui. After this latter battle he was accused of not joining with the 1,500 men under his command, while he was doing military exercises nearby. This accusation led to a long court-martial which finally acquitted him and he remained in the army.
In November 1814, when the civil war between
Federales
''Federales'' (singular ''Federale'' or, rarely but aligning with Spanish, ''Federal'') is a Spanglish word used in an informal context to denote security forces operating under a federal political system. The term gained widespread usage by E ...
and
Unitarians had started, he was named governor of
Entre Ríos Province
Entre Ríos (, "Between Rivers") is a central province of Argentina, located in the Mesopotamia region. It borders the provinces of Buenos Aires (south), Corrientes (north) and Santa Fe (west), and Uruguay in the east.
Its capital is Paraná ...
.
The following year he took part in the revolution against Supreme Director
Carlos María de Alvear
Carlos María de Alvear (October 25, 1789 in Santo Ángel, Rio Grande do Sul – November 3, 1852 in New York), was an Argentine soldier and statesman, Supreme Director of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata in 1815.
Early life
H ...
, and later he was sent to
Santa Fe Province
The Province of Santa Fe ( es, Provincia de Santa Fe, ) is a province of Argentina, located in the center-east of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the north clockwise Chaco (divided by the 28th parallel south), Corrientes, Entre R ...
to control the advance of the federalists. The day after his arrival governor Francisco Candioti died, which gave Viamonte the opportunity to make the province depend again on Buenos Aires. The following year he was expelled in a rising organized by local
caudillo
A ''caudillo'' ( , ; osp, cabdillo, from Latin , diminutive of ''caput'' "head") is a type of personalist leader wielding military and political power. There is no precise definition of ''caudillo'', which is often used interchangeably with " ...
s
Mariano Vera and
Estanislao López
Estanislao López (26 November 1786 – 15 June 1838) was a ''caudillo'' and governor of the , between 1818 and 1838, one of the foremost proponents of provincial federalism, and an associate of Juan Manuel de Rosas during the Argentine Civ ...
, and he was sent to be imprisoned at
Artigas encampment.
In May 1818 he was a deputy to the
Congress of Tucumán
The Congress of Tucumán was the representative assembly, initially meeting in San Miguel de Tucumán, that declared the independence of the United Provinces of South America (modern-day Argentina, Uruguay, part of Bolivia) on July 9, 1816, fro ...
, and the following year he was named chief of the expeditionary army of Santa Fe, replacing
Juan Ramón Balcarce
Juan Ramón González de Balcarce (16 March 1773 – 12 November 1836) was an Argentine military leader and politician.
Biography
Juan was the older brother of Antonio González de Balcarce and of Marcos González de Balcarce. He fought agai ...
. Estanislao López immobilized the army directed from Córdoba by
Juan Bautista Bustos
Juan Bautista Bustos (August 29, 1779 - September 18, 1830) was an Argentine politician and military leader who participated in the British invasions of the River Plate and the Argentine Civil Wars. In 1820, he became the first constitutional Gov ...
and captured Viamonte at
Rosario, forcing him to sign the armistice of Santo Tomé.
He was exiled to
Montevideo after the
Battle of Cepeda (1820), but he returned a year later in 1821 and was named governor of Buenos Aires Province due to the absence of
Martín Rodríguez.
He was a deputy to the General Congress of 1824 and he supported the unitarian constitution of 1826, but later on he changed sides and joined Dorrego's Federal Party. After the failed unitarian experiment of
Juan Lavalle
Juan Galo Lavalle (17 October 1797 – 9 October 1841) was an Argentine military and political figure.
Biography
Lavalle was born in Buenos Aires to María Mercedes González Bordallo and Manuel José Lavalle, general accountant of rents and t ...
, he was interim governor in 1829, a post in which he did practically nothing but ensure the ascent to power of
Juan Manuel de Rosas.
In 1833, when governor Balcarce was deposed in the
Revolution of the Restorers
The Revolution of the Restorers ( es, Revolución de los Restauradores) was a rebellion that took place in Buenos Aires in 1833. The governor Juan Ramón Balcarce was ousted from office and replaced by Juan José Viamonte. The rebellion was motiv ...
, he returned to the governorship but Rosas forced him to resign in June 1834, a resignation that was not readily accepted as nobody wanted to take the post. Finally in October the legislature reached a compromise and its president
Manuel Vicente Maza
Manuel Vicente Maza (1779 – June 27, 1839) was an Argentine lawyer and federal politician. He was governor of Buenos Aires, and was killed after the discovery of a failed plot to kill Juan Manuel de Rosas.
Biography
Even though Maza was bo ...
, was forced to take the governorship.
Viamonte was exiled in
Montevideo in 1839 for the last time where he died in 1843. His remains were transported back to Buenos Aires, and were interred in the
La Recoleta Cemetery
La Recoleta Cemetery ( es, Cementerio de la Recoleta) is a cemetery located in the Recoleta neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It contains the graves of notable people, including Eva Perón, presidents of Argentina, Nobel Prize winners, ...
.
See also
*
List of heads of state of Argentina
Argentina has had many different types of heads of state, as well as many different types of government. During pre-Columbian times, most of the territories that today form Argentina were inhabited by Amerindian peoples without any centralized ...
External links
Biography and history of General Juan José Viamonte
{{DEFAULTSORT:Viamonte, Juan Jose
1774 births
1843 deaths
People from Buenos Aires
Argentine generals
People of the Argentine War of Independence
Governors of Buenos Aires Province
Supreme Directors of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata
Burials at La Recoleta Cemetery
Federales (Argentina)