Hilário Maximiniano Antunes Gurjão (1820-1869) was a Brazilian Brigadier General

Brazilian army The Brazilian Army (; EB) is the branch of the Brazilian Armed Forces responsible, externally, for defending the country in eminently terrestrial operations and, internally, for guaranteeing law, order and the constitutional branches, subordina ...

and Hero of the

Paraguayan War The Paraguayan War (, , ), also known as the War of the Triple Alliance (, , ), was a South American war that lasted from 1864 to 1870. It was fought between Paraguay and the Triple Alliance of Argentina, the Empire of Brazil, and Uruguay. It wa ...

. He was known as the first General born in the state of

Pará Pará () is a Federative units of Brazil, state of Brazil, located in northern Brazil and traversed by the lower Amazon River. It borders the Brazilian states of Amapá, Maranhão, Tocantins (state), Tocantins, Mato Grosso, Amazonas (Brazilian st ...

and participated in the battles of

Tuyutí Tuyutí (), "white mud" in guaraní, is a marsh with a pond located in the southwest corner of Paraguay. It became famous during the Paraguayan War, while the allied army bivouacked on it for two years. The Battle of Tuyutí in 1866 was the bigge ...

and Ytororó, dying of wounds in the latter battle.

Origin

Hilário was born on February 21, 1820, at Belém as the son of Major Hilário Pedro Gurjão and Dorothéa de Andrade Gurjão. His paternal grandfather was General Francisco Pedro de Mendonça Gorjão who was the 18th Governor of the State of Grão-Pará.

Cabanagem and Education

At the age of 14, he already accompanied his father alongside the loyalists, participating in the

Cabanagem The Cabanagem (; 1835–1840) was a popular revolution and pro-separatist movement that occurred in the then province of Grão-Pará, Empire of Brazil. Among the causes for this revolt were the extreme poverty of the Paraense people, oppressio ...

in 1834. At the age of 16, he was aboard the schooner ''Bela Maria'' during the blockade made on May 13, 1836, against the cabanos commanded by Eduardo Angelim, who fled to the municipality of

Acará Acará is a municipality in the state of Pará in the Northern region of Brazil. See also *List of municipalities in Pará *List of quilombola communities in Pará The following is a list of remaining quilombo communities and territories located ...

and was promoted to 1st Lieutenant in the same year. On February 28, 1839, he was assigned to command the troops based in the fortress of São José in

Macapá Macapá () is a city in Brazil with a population of 512,902 (2020 estimate), and is the capital of Amapá state in the country's North Region, Brazil, North Region, located on the northern channel of the Amazon Delta near its mouth on the Atlant ...

. On December 2 of that same year, he was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant. He returned to

Belém Belém (; Portuguese for Bethlehem; initially called Nossa Senhora de Belém do Grão-Pará, in English Our Lady of Bethlehem of Great Pará), often called Belém of Pará, is the capital and largest city of the state of Pará in the north of B ...

, where he attended the School of Artillery and in 1841, was promoted to Captain at just 21 years old. Traveling to

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

, he enrolled in the , graduating with a BA in Mathematics and specializing in artillery courses.

Paraguayan War

He held various military posts in

and Amazonas with the mission of fortifying the Amazon. In 1857, he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, when he inspected the fortresses of Macapá, Gurupá and Óbidos. Returning to Rio de Janeiro, he took command of the 3rd Artillery Battalion, where he received the decoration of Knight of the Order of Christ and the

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and given command of the 1st Infantry Battalion. In 1865, he distinguished himself in the

with the rank of Colonel as he went to participate in the Battle of Itapirú and the

Battle of Tuyutí The Battle of Tuyutí (Tuiuti in Portuguese) was a Paraguayan offensive in the Paraguayan War targeting the Triple Alliance encampment of Tuyutí. It is considered to be the bloodiest battle ever in South America. The result of the battle was ...

, commanding the 17th Artillery Brigade during the latter. He then commanded the Corrientes garrison and the Chaco forces in combined action with the squadron on September 3, 1867, and evicted the Paraguayans from

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on March 21, 1868, forcing them to abandon the entire line of nearby fortifications, including the fortress of Curu, and concentrate on Humaitá. For this action, he was promoted to Brigadier General in the same year. Heading towards the

Gran Chaco The Gran Chaco or simply Chaco is a sparsely populated, hot and semiarid lowland tropical dry broadleaf forest natural region of the Río de la Plata basin, divided among eastern Bolivia, western Paraguay, northern Argentina, and a portion o ...

, he managed to establish communication between the squadron anchored below Angustura and the one in front of Vileta. In November, he was designated by the Duke of Caxias to command the artillery of the 2nd Army Corps under the command of Marshal Argolo Ferrão and thanks to the actions of Hilário Gurjão, on December 5 the 2nd Corps landed in Santo Antonio. During the Battle of Itororó, the Duke of Caxias determined that the bridge over the Itororó stream be defended at all costs. The Brazilian forces were outnumbered and most of their commanders were unable to serve or were killed. After several unsuccessful attempts, a new order came to take the bridge under intense Paraguayan fire. General Gurjão, verifying the hesitation of the troops, took the lead and shouted “See how a Brazilian general dies!”. The soldiers motivated by the brave Generals advance, managed to conquer the bridge but during the charge, Gurjão was mortally wounded and chose to not resist the wounds, dying from them on January 17, 1869.

Legacy

His remains were taken to the Court of Rio de Janeiro, taken from the Igreja da Cruz dos Militares to the Navy Arsenal, where they were shipped to his home province of Pará on the afternoon of June 30, 1870. The urn was taken by the

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, the Minister of War Marquis of Muritiba and by several Generals. His Majesty Emperor Dom

Pedro II of Brazil ''Don (honorific), Dom'' PedroII (Pedro de Alcântara João Carlos Leopoldo Salvador Bibiano Francisco Xavier de Paula Leocádio Miguel Gabriel Rafael Gonzaga; 2 December 1825 – 5 December 1891), nicknamed the Magnanimous (), was the List o ...

accompanied the procession on foot to the navy arsenal. On September 2, 1870, under Law No. 615 authorized the government to erect the monument to General Hilário Maximiano Antunes Gurjão, located in the commercial center of Belém. For a decade the project remained without execution. A new legislative resolution taken on April 4, 1880, transformed into Law No. 982 which confirmed the previous law. The monument had first been thought of as a mausoleum in the Soledade Cemetery but it was then decided to erect a monument in honor of General Gurjão at Praça das Mercês. But they saw that the site would not be suitable because of the height of the neighboring buildings and the monument would be disproportionate. So it was decided that it would be in Dom Pedro II Square, which had previously been called the Primitive Palace Square, Constitution Square, the Square of Independence and the Affonso Penna Park. On August 15, 1882, the commemorative date of the Adhesion of Pará, the monument was inaugurated under the governorship of the Baron of Marajó. During the 77th anniversary of the

Battle of Monte Castello The Battle of Monte Castello (; ; ) was an engagement that took place from 25 November 1944 to 12 December 1944 during the Italian campaign of World War II. It was fought between the Allied forces advancing into northern Italy and the dug ...

and the birthday of General Gurjão, the Northern Military Command celebrated the anniversaries and visited the monument.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gurjão, Hilário Maximiniano Antunes 1820 births 1869 deaths Brazilian generals Brazilian military personnel of the Paraguayan War Brazilian military personnel killed in action People from Belém