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 Insti ...

, 1777 – Santiago, Chile, February 23, 1822) was a

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 soldier who fought in the Chilean War of Independence. 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 governm ...

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

Life as soldier

He initially sided with the patriots but changed sides later to side with the royalists. He then led the royalist bands during the so-called

Guerra a muerte Guerra a muerte (lit. English: ''War to the death'') is a term coined by Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna and used in Chilean historiography to describe the irregular, no-quarter warfare that broke out from 1819 to 1821 during the Chilean War of Indep ...

. This was a time of irregular warfare and Benavides got 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 Guer ...

, 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 had 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 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 (UK); 1915 (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 Basil Hall (31 December 1788 – 11 September 1844) was a British naval officer from Scotland, a traveller, and an author. He was the second son of Sir James Hall, 4th Baronet, an eminent man of science. Biography Although his family home was ...

's 1824 book.Conrad (2011), pp.197-8.

Citations and references

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 1777 births 1822 deaths Chilean outlaws Piracy in the Pacific Ocean 19th-century pirates Spanish guerrillas