Vicente Benavides Llanos (

Quirihue Quirihue () is a Chilean city in Quirihue, Itata Province, Ñuble Region. It is located about 72 kilometers northwest of Chillán and 410 km southwest of Santiago. Demographics According to the 2002 census of the National Statistics Instit ...

, 1777 –

Santiago, Chile Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

, February 23, 1822) was a

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

an soldier who fought in the

Chilean War of Independence The Chilean War of Independence (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Guerra de la Independencia de Chile'', 'War of Independence of Chile') was a military and political event that allowed the emancipation of Chile from the Spanish Empire, Spanish Mona ...

. He is best known for leading

Royalists A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of gover ...

guerrilla Guerrilla warfare is a form of unconventional warfare in which small groups of irregular military, such as rebels, Partisan (military), partisans, paramilitary personnel or armed civilians, which may include Children in the military, recruite ...

s in La Frontera during the last years of the war.

Life as soldier

He initially sided with the patriots but later changed sides to fight with the royalists. He then led the royalist bands during the so-called Guerra a muerte. This was a time of irregular warfare. Benavides obtained the aid of many Mapuche chiefs to combat the Chileans and pillage the countryside. He became known in this period for cruelty towards prisoners and breaking faith during truces. The

Pincheira brothers The Pincheira brothers (Spanish: ''Hermanos Pincheira'') was an infamous royalist outlaw group in Chile and Argentina active from 1818 to 1832. The gang fought initially in the Chilean War of Independence as royalist guerrillas during the Guerr ...

, a future outlaw group, served Benavides in the Guerra a muerte by defending the Cordillera. In March 1821 was anchored at St Mary's () when a boat belonging to Benavides captured her; she was later burnt in the Tubul River (). Benavides murdered her master, two mates, and part of her crew. On 14 May Benevides seized the American merchant vessel , also at Santa Maria island, and later destroyed the vessel.

Execution

Benavides was captured near the end of the war. After a brief trial in Santiago, Benavides was hanged on 23 February 1822. His body was mutilated and dismembered, due to popular feeling against him.

In literature

The author

Joseph Conrad Joseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, ; 3 December 1857 – 3 August 1924) was a Poles in the United Kingdom#19th century, Polish-British novelist and story writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest writers in the Eng ...

modeled his character Gaspar Ruiz on Benavides. Conrad wrote "Gaspar Ruiz": in 1904–5, published it in ''

The Strand Magazine ''The Strand Magazine'' was a monthly British magazine founded by George Newnes, composed of short fiction and general interest articles. It was published in the United Kingdom from January 1891 to March 1950, running to 711 issues, though the ...

'' (1906), and again in ''A Set of Six'' (1908 in the UK; 1915 in the US). This story was the only piece of Conrad's fiction ever adapted by the author for cinema, as ''Gaspar the Strong Man'' (1920). Conrad found Benavides in Chapter 4 of Captain Basil Hall's 1824 book.Conrad (2011), pp. 197-8.

Citations

References

* * *Conrad, Joseph (2011) ''Joseph Conrad's Letters to R. B. Cunninghame Graham''. (Cambridge University Press). *Hall, Basil, (1824) ''Extracts from a Journal written on the Coasts of Chili, Peru, and Mexico, in the years 1820, 1821, 1822''. (Edinburgh: Constable). * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Benavides, Vicente People of the Chilean War of Independence Executed Chilean people Spanish military personnel of the Chilean War of Independence Royalists in the Hispanic American Revolution Executed Spanish people People executed by Chile by hanging People from Itata Province Viceroyalty of Peru people 1770s births 1822 deaths Chilean outlaws Piracy in the Pacific Ocean 19th-century pirates