Juan José Viamonte González (February 9, 1774 – March 31, 1843) was an

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

general in the early 19th century.

Life and politics

Viamonte was born in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

and entered the army in his youth following in his father's footsteps. He fought in the First British Invasion with the rank of

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

, and after his participation in the Second Invasion, having distinguished himself in the defense of the Colegio de San Carlos, was promoted to

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

. He took part on the Buenos Aires Cabildo of May 22, 1810 and after the

revolution In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elements ...

he fought at the battles of Suipacha and Huaqui. After this latter battle he was accused of not joining with the 1,500 men under his command, while he was doing military exercises nearby. This accusation led to a long court-martial which finally acquitted him and he remained in the army. In November 1814, when the civil war between

Federales ''Federales'' is a slang term in English language, English and Spanish languages referring to security forces, particularly those of the federal government of Mexico. The term gained widespread usage by English speakers due to being popularized ...

and Unitarians had started, he was named governor of

Entre Ríos Province Entre Ríos (, "Between Rivers") is a Center Region, Argentina, central provinces of Argentina, province of Argentina, located in the Mesopotamia, Argentina, Mesopotamia region. It borders the provinces of Buenos Aires Province, Buenos Aires (so ...

. The following year he took part in the revolution against Supreme Director Carlos María de Alvear, and later he was sent to

Santa Fe Province The Invincible Province of Santa Fe (, , lit. "Holy Faith") is a Provinces of Argentina, province of Argentina, located in the center-east of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the north clockwise Chaco Province, Chaco (divided by the 2 ...

to control the advance of the federalists. The day after his arrival governor Francisco Candioti died, which gave Viamonte the opportunity to make the province depend again on Buenos Aires. The following year he was expelled in a rising organized by local

caudillo A ''caudillo'' ( , ; , from Latin language, Latin , diminutive of ''caput'' "head") is a type of Personalist dictatorship, personalist leader wielding military and political power. There is no precise English translation for the term, though it ...

s Mariano Vera and Estanislao López, and he was sent to be imprisoned at Artigas encampment. In May 1818 he was a deputy to the

Congress of Tucumán The Congress of Tucumán was the representative assembly, initially meeting in San Miguel de Tucumán, that declared the independence of the United Provinces of South America (modern-day Argentina, Uruguay, part of Bolivia) on July 9, 1816, ...

, and the following year he was named chief of the expeditionary army of Santa Fe, replacing Juan Ramón Balcarce. Estanislao López immobilized the army directed from Córdoba by Juan Bautista Bustos and captured Viamonte at

Rosario Rosario () is the largest city in the central provinces of Argentina, Argentine province of Santa Fe Province, Santa Fe. The city, located northwest of Buenos Aires on the west bank of the Paraná River, is the third-most populous city in the ...

, forcing him to sign the armistice of Santo Tomé. He was exiled to

Montevideo Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,302,954 (about 37.2% of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

after the Battle of Cepeda (1820), but he returned a year later in 1821 and was named governor of Buenos Aires Province due to the absence of Martín Rodríguez. He was a deputy to the General Congress of 1824 and he supported the unitarian constitution of 1826, but later on he changed sides and joined Dorrego's Federal Party. After the failed unitarian experiment of Juan Lavalle, he was interim governor in 1829, a post in which he did practically nothing but ensure the ascent to power of

Juan Manuel de Rosas Juan Manuel José Domingo Ortiz de Rozas y López de Osornio (30 March 1793 – 14 March 1877), nicknamed "Restorer of the Laws", was an Argentine politician and army officer who ruled Buenos Aires Province and briefly the Argentine Confedera ...

. In 1833, when governor Balcarce was deposed in the Revolution of the Restorers, he returned to the governorship but Rosas forced him to resign in June 1834, a resignation that was not readily accepted as nobody wanted to take the post. Finally in October the legislature reached a compromise and its president Manuel Vicente Maza, was forced to take the governorship. Viamonte was exiled in

in 1839 for the last time where he died in 1843. His remains were transported back to Buenos Aires, and were interred in the La Recoleta Cemetery.

References

External links

Biography and history of General Juan José Viamonte

{{DEFAULTSORT:Viamonte, Juan Jose 1774 births 1843 deaths Military personnel from Buenos Aires Argentine generals People of the Argentine War of Independence Governors of Buenos Aires Province Supreme Directors of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata Burials at La Recoleta Cemetery Federales (Argentina) People from the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata

Life and politics

See also

References

External links