Carlos Frederico LecorHis last name is sometimes written as Lecór or Le Cor. (October 6, 1764 – August 2, 1836) was a Portuguese-born Brazilian general and politician. He was the first Baron of Laguna, in Portugal, and later ascended to Viscount of Laguna, in Brazil. He was the first Portuguese officer to command a division, the 7th Division, of British troops,Gaudêncio, Moisés & Robert Burnham (2021)
''In the Words of Wellington's Fighting Cocks: The After-action Reports of the Portuguese Army during the Peninsular War 1812–1814''
pp. 84-85. Pen and Sword Military. in

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

's Peninsular Army, as well as having commanded the Portuguese forces who invaded the Banda Oriental del Uruguay (Eastern Bank of Uruguay) in 1816.

Early life and military career (1764–1807)

Son of Louis Pierre Lecor, a French émigré, and Quitéria Maria Krusse, Carlos Frederico Lecor was born in the Parish of Santos-o-Velho, in Lisbon. He had French ancestry by his father, and German, Dutch and Spanish ancestry by his mother. He was born into merchant families, and, as the older son of five, was destined to pursue a commercial career. Instead, having moved to Faro in the decade of 1770, he would eventually enlist in the Portuguese Army, as a ''Pé de Castelo'' (Castle Guard) in 1793, as a gunner, at the age of 29. Having been placed at the Fortress of Santo António da Barra, in Tavira, he rose to the rank of sergeant. He was then made an adjutant to the military commander of

Portimão Portimão () is a city and a municipality in the district of Faro (district), Faro, in the Algarve region of southern Portugal. The population in 2022 was 63,079 in an area of 182.06 km2. It was formerly known as Vila Nova de Portimão. In ...

, presumably at officer level. In 1794, he became first lieutenant in the

Artillery Artillery consists of ranged weapons that launch Ammunition, munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during sieges, and l ...

Regiment of

Algarve The Algarve (, , ) is the southernmost NUTS statistical regions of Portugal, NUTS II region of continental Portugal. It has an area of with 467,495 permanent inhabitants and incorporates 16 municipalities (concelho, ''concelhos'' or ''município ...

, as second in command of the 9th Company of gunners. In 1795 and 1796, he was part of the artillery complement of the ''Nau'' Príncipe da Beira, the flagship of a fleet escorting commercial ships to Salvador, in Brazil. Upon returning to Lisbon, he was promoted to captain in the Light Troops Legion, an experimental unit of the Portuguese Army, eventually becoming the aide-de-camp to General Marquis of Alorna. In this capacity he was promoted to major (1802) and lieutenant-colonel (1805).

Peninsular War (1807–1814)

On the occasion of the first French Invasion of Portugal, in November 1807, Carlos Frederico Lecor is credited with having spotted the invading army, commanded by Junot, north of

Abrantes Abrantes () is a concelho, municipality in the central Médio Tejo Subregion, Médio Tejo subregion of Portugal. The population was 39,325, in an area of . The municipality includes several parishes divided by the Tagus River, which runs through ...

, and having personally informed the Prince-Regent, future King John VI. As Lecor did not want to serve in the '' Légion Portugaise'', formed out of the remnants of the dismantled Portuguese Army to serve

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

, he fled to

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

, England, hoping to embark to Brazil. However, on hearing the news of the Portuguese uprisings of June 1808, he participated in the creation of the Loyal Lusitanian Legion, a military unit created by the Portuguese exiles in England. He then returned to Portugal, with Colonel Robert Wilson. Despite being originally made responsible for the recruitment of a second battalion of the Legion, he was made colonel of the 23rd Infantry Regiment, in Almeida, in December 1808. Between 1809 and 1813, Lecor acted as commander of several units in the Portuguese Army, mainly

brigade A brigade is a major tactical military unit, military formation that typically comprises three to six battalions plus supporting elements. It is roughly equivalent to an enlarged or reinforced regiment. Two or more brigades may constitute ...

-level, and as military commander of the Beira Baixa region, based in Castelo Branco. He was promoted to brigadier general on May 8, 1811. For a brief period in 1811, he commanded the Portuguese Brigade of the Allied 7th Division. He participated in the Bussaco campaign, as well as the Lines of Torres Vedras, under general

Rowland Hill Sir Rowland Hill, KCB, FRS (3 December 1795 – 27 August 1879) was an English teacher, inventor and social reformer. He campaigned for a comprehensive reform of the postal system, based on the concept of Uniform Penny Post and his solu ...

. On the eve of the Vitoria Campaign, in 1813, Lecor was placed again at the command of the Portuguese Brigade (later numbered 6th) of the 7th Division of the Anglo-Portuguese Army, under the command of

Lord Dalhousie James Andrew Broun-Ramsay, 1st Marquess of Dalhousie (22 April 1812 – 19 December 1860), known as the Earl of Dalhousie between 1838 and 1849, was a Scottish statesman and colonial administrator in British India. He served as Governor-Ge ...

. He was promoted to major general (Marechal de Campo) on June 4, 1813. He then went on to fight at the Battle of Sorauren, as brigade commander and the

Battle of Nivelle The Battle of Nivelle (10 November 1813) took place in front of the river Nivelle near the end of the Peninsular War (1808–1814). After the Allied siege of San Sebastian, Wellington's 80,000 British, Portuguese and Spanish troops (20, ...

, acting as commander of the 7th Division. He was then placed as the commander of the Portuguese Division, which he commanded until the end of the war, participating in the

Battle of the Nive The Battles of the Nive (9–13 December 1813) were fought towards the end of the Peninsular War. Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, Marquess of Wellington's Anglo-Portuguese Army, Anglo-Portuguese and Spanish Army ...

, on its last day, also called the Battle of St. Pierre.

Service in Brazil and Uruguay (1815–1829)

Having returned to Portugal, in mid-1814, after the conclusion of the Peninsular War, Lecor was appointed military governor of the

Alentejo Alentejo ( , , ) is a geographical, historical, and cultural region of south–central and southern Portugal. In Portuguese, its name means "beyond the Tagus" (). Alentejo includes the regions of Alto Alentejo Province, Alto Alentejo and Bai ...

for a brief period of time. In June, 1815, he was promoted to

lieutenant general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was norma ...

and appointed commander of the Prince's Royal Voluntary Division ('' Divisão de Voluntário Reais do Príncipe'') a unit to be sent for service in Brazil, made up mostly of peninsular veterans. In 1816 he led the successful

Portuguese conquest of the Banda Oriental The Portuguese conquest of the Banda Oriental was the armed-conflict that took place between 1816 and 1820 in the Banda Oriental, for control of what today comprises the whole of the Republic of Uruguay, the northern part of the Argentine Me ...

against the

Federal League The Federal League of Base Ball Clubs, known simply as the Federal League, was an American professional baseball league that played its first season as a minor league in 1913 and operated as a "third major league", in competition with the e ...

José Gervasio Artigas José Gervasio Artigas Arnal (; June 19, 1764 – September 23, 1850) was a soldier and statesman who is regarded as a national hero in Uruguay and the father of Uruguayan nationhood. Born in Montevideo, Artigas enlisted in the Spanish ...

, who had liberated the

Banda Oriental Banda Oriental (Eastern Bank), or more fully Banda Oriental del Río Uruguay, was the name of the South American territories east of the Uruguay River and north of Río de la Plata that comprise the modern nation of Uruguay, the modern state of Ri ...

(present-day Uruguay) from Spanish rule the year before. He personally ruled the newly conquered Cisplatina Province, until the

Cisplatine War The Cisplatine War was an armed conflict fought in the 1820s between the Empire of Brazil and the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata over control of Brazil's Cisplatina province. It was fought in the aftermath of the United Provinces' an ...

of 1825–1828. During this war, he succeeded in defending Montevideo against an Argentine-Uruguayan siege, but when Uruguay became independent in the peace treaty, he had to return to Brazil.

Notes

References

Bibliography

* *CHARTRAND, René & YOUNGHUSBAND, Bill. ''The Portuguese Army of the Napoleonic Wars''. (vol. 2), Oxford: Osprey, 2000. *DUARTE, Paulo de Queirós (1984), ''Lecor e a Cisplatina 1816–1828'' (3 vv.), Biblioteca do Exército: Rio de Janeiro. *QUINTA-NOVA, Jorge (2008), "Carlos Frederico Lecor: The Making of a Portuguese General", in: "Napoleon Series"

arch 3, 2010*SILVA, Alfredo P.M. ''Os Generais do Exército Brasileiro, 1822 a 1889'', M. Orosco & Co., Rio de Janeiro, 1906, vol. 1, 949 pp. *SILVA LOPES, João Baptista. ''Corografia, ou Memoria Economica, Estadistica, e Topografica do Reino do Algarve''. Lisbon: Academia Real das Sciencias, 1841. *TEIXEIRA BOTELHO, Gen. José Justino. ''Novos Subsídios para a História da Artilharia Portuguesa''. Lisbon: Comissão de História Militar, 1944. {{DEFAULTSORT:Lecor, Carlos Frederico 1764 births 1836 deaths People of the Cisplatine War Brazilian people of Portuguese descent 19th-century Brazilian politicians 19th-century Portuguese military personnel Portuguese military commanders of the Napoleonic Wars Marshals of Brazil Brazilian nobility People of the Peninsular War Politicians from Lisbon Military personnel from Lisbon People from Laguna, Santa Catarina 19th-century Portuguese politicians