Casimiro Marco del Pont

Francisco Casimiro Marcó del Pont y Ángel (Vigo, Spain, 1765-Luján, United Provinces, 1819) was a Spanish soldier and governor of the Spanish Crown in the Governorate of Chile. He is one of the figures of the Independence of Chile since he was the last of the royal governors of this territory when he was taken prisoner by forces of the Army of the Andes, led by José de San Martín and Bernardo O'Higgins, who entered to Santiago after the battle of Chacabuco.

Family

The son of Buenaventura Marcó del Pont and Juana Ángel y Méndez, Francisco Casimiro Marcó del Pont had several brothers:

• Ramon Genaro, dedicated to his father's business in Vigo.
• Ventura Miguel, dedicated to the business of his father in Buenos Aires and Syndicate of the Consulate of Commerce, founder there of the School of Nautical, of the School of Drawing, of the Tercio de Gallegos and of the Brotherhood of Sons and Oriundos of the Kingdom of Galicia, today Centro Gallego.
• Juan José, State Counselor of King Fernando VII and Minister of Finance of the Suitor Carlos V.
• Joaquín and Juan Mateo, who did not reach adulthood.
• Manuel María, general of brigade and gold medal of the Battle of Bailén.
• Pedro Angel, general of the brigade and general commander of Orense.
• Ana Jacoba, wife of Juan Fontán and Pueyo, of Luna and Belvís de Moncada, and
• Maria Magdalena, dedicated to the care of her mother.

The residences of the Marcó del Pont family were the Pazo de Lourizán, the Pazo de Pousadouro, the Pazo de Baión or Granxa de Fontán, the great houses of Vigo and Calella de Mar and the Casa-Palacio de Hortaleza in Madrid, known as the Buenavista de Hortaleza Palace and today Clara Eugenia Park.

With Francisco Marcó del Pont and his grandfather began a military saga that continues to this day in the Fontán family.

Military career in Spain

He began his military career as a cadet in the Zaragoza Infantry Regiment in 1784. He was in the Orán garrison in 1789. In 1802 he was in the Tarragona regiment. During the siege of Zaragoza, Brigadier Marcó del Pont was taken prisoner and taken to France, where he managed to transfer him to the castle of Valençay, prison of Carlos IV and Fernando VII. After the restoration, he returned to Madrid, where little by little, his influence at court gave him the government of Chile; however, this appointment was made against the advice of the Council of the Indies. The appointment of Marcó del Pont as Governor of Chile culminated a brilliant military career that even Napoleon praised by awarding him the Order of the Fleur de Lis and that both General José de Palafox and General José de San Martín praised on his day.

Chilean Government

Mark of the Pont (in Revista Zig-Zag1905).

At the end of 1815, via Panama, and his subsequent passage through Lima, he arrived in Valparaíso. His reception in Santiago was initially favourable, replacing Mariano Osorio as head of government, identified with the austerity of the period of military reconquest. Marcó del Pont sought a reconciliation through demagogic acts, however the atmosphere of mistrust and perks led him to take over key positions in the government from Europeans and Creoles from Lima and give the restoration a repressive character. Captain Vicente San Bruno, who came with the Talavera de la Reina regiment, in charge of police activity, but taking his functions beyond common crime, set up a political tribunal whose disorientation and arbitrariness brought him discredit and animosity. Marcó del Pont erred his government policy by failing to comply with the reconciliation policies coming directly from the Spanish court, such as the general pardon for the patriots on February 12, 1816. In addition, his state of permanent alarm exhausted the resources used in the defense of the sea and the mountain range of Chile. He sent several spies to Cuyo to gather information about the Liberation Army of the Andes.

It has been widely demonstrated that the measures taken by Marcó del Pont to repress the insurgents were widely accepted in their day, such as the curfew or the seizure of weapons to guarantee the security of the civilian population.

On the other hand, he correctly fulfilled his administrative role, accrediting his loyalty, postponing his salaries to the possibilities of the state. Among his urban works are the improvement of the Paseo de Tajamar or the Alameda, he repaired the Theater and Coliseum, he built the Maipú canal. It is said that everything suggests that Marcó del Pont arrived in Chile with very good intentions, and could have been of benefit in a normal country, but the state of revolution required talent, energy and experience that Marcó del Pont lacked to carry on in a convulsed government. He put a price on the head of Manuel Rodríguez.

Points of view

The descriptions that exist of the image of Marcó del Pont are completely diverse. Some Chilean historians describe him as "[...] incapable of doing something correct, cowardly and lacking a sense of dignity [...]", while Joaquín Edwards Bello pointed out:

To Marcó del Pont, who was a fine man, of the best educated and of excellent trunk, something rare then, gave him the fame of shaved, simply for his cleansing, his elegance and the sin of having brought certain advances to a city whose state was then indescribable because of its backwardness and filthiness. In Santiago there were neither glass nor latrines, nor more lighted than that of the sebum candles, held in clay balls that drew by the acequias. The entertainment of the children was the pedrea. What we now call guate, from W.C., was the zambullo, a hediot dog that pulled out of the houses and canteens once a month. In other parts they put the excuse on top of the acequia in the third courtyard. At the Plaza they occupied all a side of the eye vendors. The old eyelets were on the ground and served on Sundays for the so-called war of eyelets. With this footwear the patriotic armies fought. To this city brought Mr.Marco of the Pont some squid, combs, brushes, fine soaps, and some carriage with glass, all of which seemed unusual. They compared him to Pompadour and gave him fame of shave. It's little to disfigure people...

The family and education of all the Marcó del Pont was elevated in their time that led them to treat themselves as equals with members of the aristocracy such as the Duchess of Osuna or royalty such as the Duke of Angoulême and the King Ferdinand VII. Marcó del Pont limited himself to following the instructions of his government, taking into account the enormous rejection that the inevitable independence of the new American countries caused in the metropolis. The Marcó del Pont family belonged to the Enlightenment and therefore encouraged the arts, but given their status and rejection of the French Revolution they always encouraged loyalty to the Old Regime.

End of his government, exile and death

End of government

San Martín entrusted his gunsmith José Antonio Álvarez Condarco, on a spy mission, to go and meet with Marcó del Pont, having to recognize and memorize the accidents of the terrain on his trip. Marcó del Pont expelled him from the country, noting in the gunsmith's passport an expression that refers to José de San Martín's betrayal of the Spanish monarchy: "I sign with a white hand and not like his general's, which is black."

Escape and capture

After the fall of the Spanish government in Santiago, Marcó del Pont fled to Valparaíso, heading first to San Antonio through the Cuesta de Lo Prado, believing that the ship San Miguel was anchored in its bay, but it had set sail hours before. He found himself in the dilemma of following the coastal road but would be at the mercy of Ramón Freire's montoneros, so he decided to follow him north, through the current towns of Cartagena, El Tabo, El Quisco, resting in El Totoral on February 17, 1817. From this position he sent a tenant to notify him regarding the situation in Valparaíso. The man notified his boss, the Las Tablas landowner, who agreed with Captain José Aldao to surround the ravine on February 15. In the Quebrada del Totoral, he was found with all the officers who accompanied him on his way out of Santiago; Lieutenant Colonel Fernando Cacho, Colonel Ramón González and the prosecutor Prudencio Lazcano. Everyone handed over their swords except him who asked to hand it over to a chief of his condition. The Virgin of his private chapel can still be seen in the chapel of the Franciscan Hermitage of El Totoral.

Virgin of Marcó del Pont in El Totoral.

Saint Martin's greeting

According to the stories, he ceremoniously handed over his sword to San Martín. Argentine tradition says that San Martín greeted him with the expression: "Come with that white hand, my general!" This was because the Spanish military said that San Martín commanded with a "black hand", alluding to the large number of black slaves that made up the army of the Andes.^{[citation required]}

Sent to Argentina and death

On April 16, 1817, he was sent to Mendoza. San Martín ordered Marcó del Pont to be imprisoned in San Luis together with the prisoners taken in Chacabuco. After a riot in 1819, in which he did not take part but was also accused, his transfer to the "La Estanzuela" prison was ordered, after the intervention of Bernardo de Monteagudo, further inland. Saint Louis Province. After the uprising, he is prosecuted and, despite being declared innocent, he is going to be transferred to the town of La Estanzuela, lying on the Sierra de los Comechingones, located about 15 km from the town of Villa del Carmen, present-day Chacabuco Department., where He died years later, on May 11, 1821.