José Dolores Estrada Vado (1792–1869) is a
Nicaraguan
Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America after Guatemala and ...
national hero famed for defeating a detachment of
William Walker's filibuster army at
Hacienda San Jacinto in 1856.
Estrada was born in
Nandaime on March 16, 1792, the son of Timoteo Estrada and Gertrudis Vado Lugo. He adopted a military career, and slowly rose through the ranks. On September 14, 1856, he commanded as colonel a Nicaraguan force of 120 to 160 men that repulsed a force (put at 300 men in Nicaraguan accounts) led by Walker's friend Byron Cole at Hacienda San Jacinto.
He died in
Managua
Managua () is the capital city, capital and largest city of Nicaragua, and one of the List of largest cities in Central America, largest cities in Central America. Located on the shores of Lake Managua, the city had an estimated population of 1, ...
on August 12, 1869.
In 1999, his remains were exhumed on the 130th anniversary of his death, in a ceremony attended by President
Arnoldo Alemán, army chief
Joaquín Cuadra, Cardinal
Miguel Obando, and other dignitaries, in preparation for returning them to his birthplace, Nandaime.
Estrada and his victory at San Jacinto are commemorated on the
Nicaraguan five hundred-cordoba note, and the date is a national holiday. He had an involvement with the independence being the general giving the orders to the man with higher fame Andrez Castro in an attempt to overtake Hacienda San Jacinto as a part of Granada. He is the subject of the eponymous poem by Ernesto Cardenal.
References
1792 births
1869 deaths
People from Granada Department
Nicaraguan military personnel
National Heroines and Heroes of Nicaragua
People from New Spain
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