Jose Hernandez

José Rafael Hernández (Chacras de Perdriel, November 10, 1834 - Buenos Aires, October 21, 1886) was an Argentine poet, politician, journalist and soldier, especially known as the author of the Martín Fierro, greatest work of gaucho literature. In his homage, November 10 is celebrated in Argentina on Tradition Day .

After starting out as a soldier in defense of the autonomy of the State of Buenos Aires, between 1852 and 1872 he developed an intense journalistic activity, faced with the predominance of the city of Buenos Aires in the organization of his country. At a time of great political turmoil, he argued that the provinces should not remain tied to the government in Buenos Aires.

Lived in Paraná since 1857, he lived alternately in that city, in Corrientes, Rosario and Montevideo, before returning to Buenos Aires.

He participated in one of the last federal rebellions, led by Ricardo López Jordán, whose first attempt at action ended in 1871 with the defeat of the gauchos and the exile of Hernández in Brazil. After this revolution he continued to be an adviser to the revolutionary general for a while, but over time he distanced himself from him.

Upon his return to Argentina, in 1872, he continued his struggle through journalism and published the first part of his masterpiece, El gaucho Martín Fierro. It was through his poetry that he got a great echo for his proposals and his most valuable contribution to the cause of the gauchos. Together with the continuation of the work, La vuelta de Martín Fierro (1879), they form a popular epic poem. It is generally considered the masterpiece of Argentine literature. Later he held the positions of deputy and senator of the province of Buenos Aires. Occupying this last position, he defended the federalization of Buenos Aires in a memorable speech, confronting Leandro N. Alem.

Childhood

Chacra Pueyrredón, where the José Hernández Museum works today.

She was born in the Pueyrredón farm, the current town of Villa Ballester Oeste, General San Martín district, Buenos Aires province, owned by her aunt Victoria Pueyrredón. Her parents were Rafael Hernández and Isabel de Pueyrredón, first cousin of Juan Martín de Pueyrredón.

He was baptized on July 27, 1835 in the current Basilica de la Merced, which was then known as the Cathedral of the North.

He had two siblings, Rafael and Magdalena. He was the second cousin of the painter Prilidiano Pueyrredón and the second nephew of Juan Martín de Pueyrredón. The Pueyrredóns were a family of unitary affiliation, while the Hernández militated with the federales; one of his uncles would die in the Battle of Caseros, fighting under the orders of Juan Manuel de Rosas.

His parents traveled frequently to the ranches they owned in the south of the Province of Buenos Aires, leaving the boy in the care of his aunt Victoria, whom he nicknamed "Mamá Toto". Around 1840 the Pueyrredón, feeling threatened by the Mazorca, the armed wing of rosismo, had to seek refuge in Montevideo and José was left in the care of his paternal grandfather, José Gregorio Hernández Plata, who owned a farm in Barracas, on the Riachuelo.

He studied at the Liceo Argentino de San Telmo, directed by Pedro Sánchez, between 1841 and 1845, receiving classes in reading and writing, Christian doctrine, ancient, Roman and Spanish history, arithmetic, drawing and Spanish grammar. In 1845 courses in French, geometry and geography were added at no additional cost, in recognition of director Sánchez of his ability and conduct.

In 1843 his mother died. The boy suffered from a chest problem, which by medical prescription had to be treated with a change of climate, which forced him in 1846 to abandon his studies and move to the pampas of the province of Buenos Aires. He went with his father, who was a steward of Governor Rosas' ranches in the Camarones and Laguna de los Padres area. This allowed him to come into contact with the gauchos; he learned to ride a horse and perform all the tasks that they performed. It was also the basis of his deep knowledge of rural life and affection for the countryman that he showed in all his acts. In that period he had a direct vision of the reality of the country man, where he was able to "capture the system of values, loyalties and abilities that united rural society."

Family Life

In Paraná, he married Carolina González del Solar, with whom he had eight children: Isabel Carolina Hernández González del Solar (born in Paraná on May 16, 1865); Manuel Alejandro (born in Paraná on November 6, 1866); María Mercedes (born in Paraná on September 24, 1867); Margarita Teresa (born in San Martín, Buenos Aires, on May 28, 1871); Juan Jose; María Sofía (born in Buenos Aires on June 20, 1876); María Teresa (born in San Martín on October 24, 1877); and Carolina (born in Buenos Aires on April 7, 1879).

In 1878 he supported himself financially through the purchase and sale of fields at 17 Tacuarí Street, and a business called Librería del Plata.

Military career

He enlisted in the militias of the State of Buenos Aires shortly after the Battle of Caseros. Under the command of Pedro Rosas y Belgrano and Faustino Velazco, he intervened in 1853 in the repression of the uprising of Colonel Hilario Lagos against Governor Valentín Alsina; they were defeated at San Gregorio on January 22 of the following year, already a lieutenant, he participated in the victory at the battle of El Tala in November 1854.

He had to leave the ranks of the army for political reasons in 1858, and moved to the Province of Entre Ríos to dedicate himself to journalism.

He later intervened in the battles of Cepeda and Pavón under the orders of Justo José de Urquiza. After this last battle, he had differences with Urquiza over his alleged defections, which did not prevent him from writing a letter praising him in 1868 between displays of loyalty:

[...] Whatever future emergencies are, you will always find us at your side listening to your voice to fulfill your orders [...] The Hernandez have never been traitors. In recent years that have not been flowers for us, I could have sought refuge in the opposite ranks, but no one has seen me hesit in my political faith, deserting from my companions, fainting in the struggle, nor asking the enemies or a greeting, nor a handshake or the slightest consideration. There won't be a single enemy who hopes for an apostasy from me.

Although Hernández expressed his loyalty to Urquiza on three occasions, it is also probable that their relationship was marked by mistrust. be solid and lasting". But months after the murder he came to express:

Urquiza was the tyrant governor of Entre Ríos, but he was more than all the traitorous chief of the great federal party, and his death, a thousand times deserved, is a tremendous and exemplary justice of the party many times sacrificed and sold by him.

He participated together with his brother Rafael in the battle of Cañada de Gómez, in which they were also defeated by the Mitristas. It was a surprise incursion of troops from the State of Buenos Aires on those of the Argentine Confederation.^{[citation required]}

In Entre Ríos he was part of the last gaucho rebellion that tried to defend the autonomy of that province and the Federal Party against the attacks of President Sarmiento. It was led by Ricardo López Jordán, and its first act was the assassination of Urquiza. They were defeated in 1871; López Jordán and Hernández went into exile in Santana do Livramento, Brazil, where they remained until 1872, the year in which he emigrated to Uruguay; he was subsequently amnestied by Sarmiento and returned to Argentina.

Journalistic career

The Peaceful Reform

In 1856 he began his journalistic career, shortly after Hilario Lagos' last attempt to incorporate Buenos Aires into the Confederation. He aligned himself with the Federal Reformist Party, led by Nicolás Calvo, who supported the incorporation of Buenos Aires into the Confederation. The members of the media were called "chupandinos" for his alleged fondness for drinking. In turn, the opponents were called "gang members" because it was said that they were always in a gang or groups.

Hernández joined the newspaper of that party, La Reforma Pacífica, edited by Juan José Soto; His son, Héctor Soto, years later would co-direct a newspaper in Uruguay with Hernández. The newspaper went out on December 1, 1856, with a size of 84 centimeters by 53 wide, with three wide columns and eight pages; it circulated daily, except the days after the holidays. His subscription cost 30 pesos a month. Its newsroom worked in Defense 73, being later transferred to Representatives 71, while changing its format and reducing the number of pages.

There are references that affirm that Hernández's work was collaborative. Others locate him as a correspondent in Paraná, where he had to move in 1858, after a duel with an opposition leader, which in turn forced him to leave the Buenos Aires army. There he worked as a commercial employee and in the National Administration.

After the battle of Cepeda, he worked as a stenographer for the National Congress in that Entre Ríos city; the supposed collaborations of his from that time in The Peaceful Reform cannot be verified because they are not signed. Only in 1860 can it be determined that an article signed under the pseudonym "Vincha" It is his authorship. The collaborations such as Vincha are located between February 13, 1860 and January 12, 1861. On February 18 of that year a column appeared that said:

"Vincha. Such is the pseudonym of our most active, laborious and illustrated correspondent of the provinces. We have already published correspondences from Mr. Vincha, who have made him known advantageously; henceforth it will suffice to see his name at the foot of a writing so that the readers will gladly stop to travel the pages drawn by his pen. We are certain that none of our colleagues will be able to present such a faithful and so luminous excerpt from the 6th session as the one we post next, due to the infatigable laboriousness of Vincha. "

In 1861 he was appointed secretary to General Juan Esteban Pedernera, vice president of the Confederation under the presidency of Santiago Derqui.

The Argentine National

During the time he lived in Paraná, Hernández published regularly in the newspaper El Nacional Argentino. This newspaper went out on December 3, 1852 in Paraná; it circulated on Thursdays and Sundays, with a format of 48 centimeters by 31 wide to four columns, increasing to 57 centimeters high by 40 wide on December 5. March 1855, and beginning to circulate also on Tuesdays and Saturdays. It finally became a daily in 1858. Its administrator was Jorge Alzugaray and it was printed at the State Printing Office.

On September 22 of that year, the appearances of "Vincha" began, with an editorial titled "Comunicado. The National Convention is not a judge of the elections", in order to refute what was stated in the Correo Argentino. The second editorial appeared on the 30th, and was entitled "Complicated Ending". The fact that he was secretary to the Vice President of the Confederation and a stenographer justified the use of the pseudonym.

In total he published eighteen articles, among which stands out the one that says:

The political incorporation (from Buenos Aires) is carried out by the Covenants of 11 November and 6 June; the administrative reinstatement, government, will take place very soon. A new era was opened for the Republic; an era of peace, progress, trade, moral and material development.

For the realization of these vast hopes, for the fulfillment of the promises with which the present will flatter us, there is an essential and indispensable condition:

stability of institutions, respect and obedience to the executive authority, which is responsible for the direction of the destiny of the country, leads to happiness along the path that the law draws.

Even though he was a supporter of Urquiza, a federal militant, he supported Derqui's integrationist position with the hope of a future of peace and progress, as he maintains in all his collaborations from that date.

October 15, 1860 was his last appearance in this medium, and he changed his signature to "J.H.". The last edition of the newspaper was published on October 25 of that year.

The Coastline

According to an investigation by author Fermín Chávez, Hernández collaborated with the Paraná newspaper El Litoral, owned by Evaristo Carriego (father). A statement supported by Noé Jitrik in his biography of the writer, pointing out the federal preaching of El Litoral, which coincides with that of El Argentino. an anti-mitrist and sometimes also an anti-urquicist and dissident federalist, it was offered to him by Dr. Carriego, of whom he was a friend.

In a review of the archives of the newspaper El Litoral by researcher María Celina Ortale, several columns signed by Hernández were discovered. In addition, there are contributions from Hernández's brother, Rafael, who edited a column entitled "Laberinto", which consisted of social chronicles, some verses and political jokes.

Hernández's collaborations in this medium date from 1862, since the following year he would found El Argentino. His first appearance was on February 18 of that year, with a request to the Director defending an article entitled "Presente mazorquero", published in La Patria, where he is attributed the publication of two mocking carnival cards:

Rivadavia! What a chaucha:
Who doesn't know the strand!
With cognac and gin
He died drowned like a hood.

Collaboration awarded to Hernandez for El Litoral.

Really?

Tell me nice girl
And that shy belitre

Is that what it's like?

Another collaboration of Hernández for El Litoral.

For these verses he was accused of being a villain, a mazorquero and a coward in the newspaper La Patria, where it was also stated that they were a gift for some young ladies from the city. Hernández made a defense, claiming that no editor was responsible for the complaint. In another request on April 5, he claimed that the & # 34; Aramis & # 34; —who had accused him in the opposing newspaper— made himself known.

A week after this appearance, the so-called "Labyrinth" where Rafael, Hernández's brother, participated. The section is for varieties, with brief social and festive comments and some political ones. On April 17, Rafael accuses the "loco Sarmiento" to decimate San Juan, coinciding with the encouragement of his brother and Carriego.

From mid-July to mid-August notices appeared for Hernández, presenting himself as a trustee in bankruptcies, proof that he was a proxy and representative in these cases.

On August 14, 1862, he signed with his initials J.H two articles that appeared under the editor's column, a privileged position in the newspaper. One was titled "Very Notable," about an episode of robbery on a Paraguayan steamer. The second, "Revista de perídicos", included comments on the news that arrives on the steamer "Dolorcitas" and which deal with the projects for the federalization of Buenos Aires, the repression of the revolution in Catamarca by Gelly y Obes and Rivas, and the situation in Mendoza, which ended with this summary:^{[citation required ]}

The elements of order do not prevail anywhere and the general discomfort and agitation reappear albeit slowly. The national reorganization, so decanted, is still problematic. The re-establishment of order, of peace, of harmony seems to be a step away for a moment. The art of rebuilding is not learned by demolishing.

In other columns from later days, he referred to the situation in Corrientes, where social and political disorder prevailed. He also dealt with the federalization of the City of Buenos Aires, the extension of the commercial code and the appointment of new generals in the army. He also criticized politicians and political candidates from different provinces, as well as the National Congress, ironizing about its absolute lack of activity.

The Argentine

It was founded in mid-1863 by Hernández, some time after he married Carolina González del Solar in June of that year in the cathedral of Paraná.

On November 12 of that year, he had to cover the assassination of General Ángel Vicente Peñaloza, whose head was exhibited in the Plaza de Olta, La Rioja. The fact deeply moved Hernández, who reflected it in the editorials of his newspaper. During the month of the execution of the La Rioja caudillo, he dedicated several editorials to him, which would later be brought together under the name Vida del Chacho, or Biographical Traits of General D. Angel V. Peñaloza. In them —although he indicated that he did not know exactly the circumstances of the caudillo's death— he accused the Unitarians of his death, especially Sarmiento, and warned General Urquiza that the same fate awaited him at their hands.

At the end of 1863 El Argentino stopped appearing. Hernández remained in Entre Ríos, dedicated to commercial activities.

The Echo of Corrientes

After the Paraguayan War began, he moved to Corrientes, where his brother-in-law, Melitón González del Solar, practiced medicine. He was appointed Acting State Attorney to replace Dr. Tomás J. Luque, who had resigned.

He also began writing for the newspaper El Eco de Corrientes, on an unknown date. It could have been in 1867 or August 24, 1866, according to the National Library collection, where Hernández appears as one of his collaborators, but not the first nor the only one, nor as a founder. On February 18, 1868, Hernández qualifies as "tyrants" to France and the López, from Paraguay. "For fifty years that country has remained an obstacle to civilization and progress." He reminds the victims of Corrientes who "still moan in the dungeons of the Despot"; (Francisco Solano Lopez). (Tulio Halperin Donghi, José Hernández y la mundos de él, Sudamericana, 1985, pages 41, 42 and 64) In the pages of that newspaper, which circulated bimonthly, he had to counter the columns that the opposition newspaper La Esperanza dedicated to him due to his status as a public official. Hernández signed with his full name or with his initials J.H., as he did on March 1, 1868 in an anti-Sarmiento editorial, or in another on March 31, in which he lashed out at his political opponents.

Its last edition was on May 26, 1868: the next day the governor Evaristo López was overthrown and his ministers were persecuted. Hernández had to resign from his position and also from another as a grammar teacher at the San Agustín school. He moved to Rosario, where Ovidio Lagos offered him to collaborate with the newspaper La Capital .

The Capital of Rosario

La Capital de Rosario hit the streets in 1867, being one of the oldest newspapers in Argentina that is still published. It was founded to support Manuel Quintana's project to install the Capital of the Republic in that city and the candidacy of Mariano Cabal for the governorship of Santa Fe. Its founder, Ovidio Lagos, had published articles in La Reforma Pacífica and was also —like Hernández— militant in federalism.

His articles appeared with the initials J.H.; the first appeared published on June 20, titled "The events of Corrientes and the anarchist press", analyzing the problem of provincial legality, which had been violated by the Mitrista revolt that had overthrown Evaristo López.

In later editions, Hernández defended the installation of the Nation's capital outside the city of Buenos Aires, particularly in Rosario:

The power of Buenos Aires, which must always be a threat to the peoples as long as that province is still dominated by an exclusive and anarchical circle, that power would be contained by the proximity of the National Government, established at a point beyond the scope of its influence; it would be observed closely and forcibly narrowed within the territorial limits of its province.

The capital in the Rosary would be the only convenient solution that can be given to the great political and administrative issues that have agitated and divided us to this day.

The capital in Buenos Aires without bringing great benefits to that people makes the ruin of the rest of the nation. Even if the ridiculous phenomenon of coexistence in Buenos Aires, of the two governments, National and Provincial, is possible, this coexistence brings similar inconveniences of such nature, which make it absurd, in a political extravagance.

The collaborations were daily until July 21, when Hernández moved to Buenos Aires. On July 23, 1868, Ovidio Lagos dedicated a farewell editorial to him in his diary:

This appreciable gentleman, friend and political correspondent, left yesterday for Buenos Aires; that his journey be happy and his stay in the great quiet city. Hernandez, who was established in Corrientes, worked there in the press always supporting freedom and good ideas; independent of all our issues he has treated them with elevation and a rare knowledge of our men and our things.
Pilgrim against his will, for the persecution of the famous revolutionary government of Corrientes, with its permanence of a few days in Rosario, Capital owes him remarkable articles, which have brought the word of truth of our political situation to the spirit of the people.

The River Plate

Once settled in Buenos Aires, he installed the administration and newsroom of the newspaper El Río de la Plata at 202 Victoria Street, with the objectives of municipal autonomy, abolition of border quotas and popular election of justices of the peace, military commanders and school counselors. It was a morning paper that was published in broadsheet format and the editor and manager was Juan Recalde.

This was also a prosperous time for Argentine journalism, when the current newspapers La Nación and La Prensa were born.

The tone of the newspaper was balanced and avoided personal attacks, a resource that was common in the press at that time. This newspaper, more than criticizing daily problems, tried to confront the fundamental and unresolved issues of nationalism. From the pages of El Río de la Plata Hernández supported General Ricardo López Jordán in 1869, a supporter of Evaristo López, who had resigned his aspirations to recover the governorship. The newspaper was closed on April 22 from 1870 by Hernández himself after the murder of Urquiza; Simultaneously, President Sarmiento had ordered its closure. On March 9, 1870, before the death of Francisco Solano López, Hernández, in El Río de la Plata, called the dead "abortion of nature" and adds that it is only possible to "go to the temple to give thanks to the immortal God of justice" (Tulio Halperin Donghi, José Hernández y la mundos de él, Sudamericana, 1985, pages 103 and 121. He moved to Entre Ríos, where in November-December 1870 he joined the rebel forces of Ricardo López Jordán. On January 26, 1871, López Jordán was defeated at the battle of Ñaembé, and from April 1871 until the beginning of 1872 he stayed with Hernández in Santana do Livramento.

The Homeland

He moved to Montevideo, Uruguay, where according to some sources he collaborated with La Patria. Later, protected by an amnesty promoted by Sarmiento, he returned to Buenos Aires to write his famous book Martín Fierro.He had some contacts with General López Jordán in Santana do Livramento.

He returned to Uruguay in mid-1873, when the second Jordanian rebellion broke out, since his ties to the rebel chief were notorious. While the national government put a price on his head and his team of collaborators, Hernández accompanied the caudillo in his invasion of Entre Ríos. ^{[citation needed ]}

Returned to Montevideo, Hernández resumed his journalistic duties at the newspaper on November 1 of that year. At that time, the newspaper was directed by Héctor Soto, son of Juan José, who was editor of "La Reforma Pacífica".

On March 10, 1874, he published a manifesto in the name of López Jordán, but clearly his own, in which he explained the reasons for his revolution the previous year, and his defeat at the Battle of Don Gonzalo. Between April and mayo responded to the publicist Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna through nine articles in the newspaper, signed with the pseudonym "El Patagón".

In August 1874, he co-edited the newspaper with his friend Soto. He returned to Buenos Aires for a short time, and upon his return to Montevideo he assumed the direction of the newspaper in Soto's absence, a fact that he announced in its pages. The Buenos Aires newspaper La Política, owned by Evaristo Carriego, reproduced all of Hernández's articles published in the Uruguayan newspaper.

That year, Hernández drafted —at the request of López Jordán— a request for assistance in arms that had to be processed before the authorities of the Empire of Brazil, but which was never executed. Months later, he separated definitively from the caudillo, due to strategic differences.

On January 1, 1875, La Patria stopped circulating. Hernández returned to Buenos Aires, protected by the conciliatory policy of President Nicolás Avellaneda, who had assumed the presidency of the Nation on October 12 of the previous year.

Performance in other media

There are references that affirm that he collaborated in other media. One of them maintains that he founded the newspaper El Plata , a fact that would have occurred after the revolution of 1873, but there is no evidence of its existence.

The newspaper La Tribuna published a critical commentary on the second edition of his "Vida del Chacho", a book that compiled his notes from "El Argentino" of Paraná during 1863, describing Hernández's work as notably reactionary. Three days later, another comment described him as a Jordanian, "supporter of the situation" and proselyte of Avellaneda. In response, Hernández replied to both attacks in the column of La Libertad, a newspaper owned by Manuel Bilbao; the article was titled "Señor Sarmiento»: Why did they kill?":

When those who killed, those who applauded the slaughter and those who preached it as justice, they called me "the dungeon", because I condemned those excesses and defended in so many unfortunate the right to live, I could not, I should not remain without retributing the bloody apostrophe.

It was a mutual insult. He received one and returned another that was correlative to him.

But those who killed, sir. Sarmiento, those who killed are more guilty, whatever the ways they did, than those who condemned the slaughterers, whatever the terms they wrote.

The next day, La Tribuna published another article, accusing him of taking revenge with "refined cruelty" of Sarmiento, Miter and Urquiza. This accusation was rejected by Hernández in the edition of September 26, 1875.

On September 28 "La Tribuna#34; He ended the discussion by saying:

Federalote ultra, enthusiastic, admirer and humble echo of the acts of the Chacho and servant of the virtuous General Dn. Ricardo López Jordan, who not for having killed General Urquiza was less virtuous at Dn's morals. José Hernández profesa principles incompatible and of impossible relationship with those who form the creed of the "La Tribuna" Drafting. It's our last word.

In 1876, he also collaborated on El Bicho Colorado, a humorous publication that appeared in Buenos Aires on February 1, 1876, directed by Hernández himself. The French cartoonist Carlos Clerice was his cartoonist; it contained eight pages in prose and one in verse, which included a satire on Juan María Gutiérrez, for having refused a diploma from the Royal Spanish Academy. It was sold to them at Peru 217 in Buenos Aires, wholesale.

Another humorous weekly in which he collaborated was Martín Fierro, published on Sunday, August 13, 1876. "Tres gauchos baqueanos" they appeared as editors and had compositions in prose and verse. Hernández is supposed to have signed as "El payador Pepe José" on September 18 and 30. Three years before the appearance on the market of "La Vuelta de Martín Fierro" I already announced it in this newspaper. This scoop allows us to suppose that one of the "Tres gauchos baqueanos" it would have been José Hernández.

Sociopolitical trajectory

After leaving the army for having fought a duel with another officer, he entered the Argentine Socialist Club between 1859 and 1860. The following year he entered the Litoral Masonic Lodge becoming its secretary the following year contributing to its acts a striking rhetoric due to the absence of the topic of progress with contempt for the telluric. Shortly before his death he was proclaimed a free member of the Order for having completed 25 years of militancy.

During the presidency of Santiago Derqui, he held minor political posts, and his first notable political performance was that of general government minister in the campaign of Governor Evaristo López from Corrientes, during the months between the deposition of the governor and the final defeat of his defender, General Nicanor Cáceres.

In 1878, upon his return to Argentina after exile, he established the Librería del Plata in partnership with Rafael Casagemas, which he would have fully acquired by the end of that year. He also affiliated with the Masonic lodge Obediencia de la Ley N ° 13, in which he participated until his death. That year he was a provincial deputy and then a senator.^{[citation required]}

He participated in the project to expropriate the land to found the town of Necochea with funds from General Revenue,^{[citation required]} and was one of Dardo Rocha's collaborators in the construction project of the city of La Plata. The very name of the city was devised by Hernández, from the derivation of one of his paternal surnames, in conjunction with the idea of being Argentine. On the day of the official foundation of this city, Hernández made the barbecue with which it was celebrated.

In 1880, in partnership with Hipólito Yrigoyen, he founded the Buenos Aires Youth Club in support of the candidacy of Julio Argentino Roca,^{[citation required]} who would win the elections by a large majority. That same year, when Buenos Aires was federalized as the country's capital, he defended the project in the provincial senate, in a historic debate in which he faced Leandro N. Alem, who would have preferred to move the capital to another city. ^{[citation required]}

His political ideas appear to have changed since his rebellion ten years earlier, as at the time he was openly in favor of European immigration, the extension of the railway network, the consolidation and unification of the state, in line with the ideas similar to those held by the Unitarians and the governments that had succeeded that of Rosas. Some authors interpret this change as signs of a psychological change evidenced by Hernández, ^{[ citation needed ]} or that perhaps he believed it was time to become bourgeois.

In 1881 he was again elected provincial senator, and re-elected in 1885. He was serving as a senator at the time of his death, which occurred in 1886.^{[citation required]}

Life of the Chacho (Peñaloza), published in 1855.

Literary work

He began in literature with some learned poetic compositions, without much success. But it was in gaucho poetry where he would find his inspiration, with titles such as Biographical Traits of General Ángel Peñaloza from the year 1863, where he narrates the life and assassination of this famous caudillo, who was called Life del Chacho from its second edition. In this work, he criticizes Sarmiento, with whom he has conflicting positions: the governor of San Juan had been appointed war director at the time of Peñaloza's second uprising against the national government, with instructions to reduce it to a police fact. The conflict ended with the assassination of Peñaloza, unarmed, at the hands of his persecutors; he immediately afterwards he was decapitated to display his head stuck on a spear. The fact, according to Hernández, had Sarmiento as the political person responsible.

The Instrucción del Estanciero was an ambitious project by Hernández, edited by Casavalle in 1881, while he was a provincial senator. It deals with the economic possibilities of the Argentine countryside, with advice for the ranch man. About that publication, his brother Rafael stated:

"The incontestable authority he had in country affairs was the cause of Dr. Rocha's government entrusting him with the mission of studying the preferable races and the livestock methods of Europe and Australia, for which he had to turn the world, being costed by the province all the travel and study expenses and rented with salary of 17 thousand pesos ordinary currency per month for a year, with no more obligation to submit to the return a report that the government was committed. So flattering was supposed to be this mission, that the decree was promulgated without consulting the favored one, who when knowing it for the newspapers was presented at the act to the government office refusing such honor. As the governor insisted that a book was needed to teach to form the new rooms and encourage the existing ones, he replied (José Hernández) that for that it was useless the enormous expense of such commission; that the European forms and practices were not applicable TODAVIA to our country, for the different natural and industrial conditions; that the selection of races cannot be fixed with exclusions because of depending on the climate and the place where they were raised, and the variations. With this effect he wrote “Instruction of the stanciero”, which edited Casavalle and whose data, information and methods are sufficient to form a perfect butler or director of stays and to teach the owner to control his administrators. "

The advice provided in this book is still useful today —with the obvious technological caveats— for current ranchers as a guide, since it provides detailed knowledge of daily activities. Despite this, it was for a long time the least known of Hernández's books.The trip proposed by Rocha was also offered to his brother Rafael, who also refused the offer, out of respect for his brother.

Other important works were the gaucho story Los thirty-three orientales, and various scattered writings, which would be compiled posthumously in Prosas del autor del Martín Fierro (1834-1886).^{[citation required]}

Martin Fierro

Fifteenth edition The Gaucho Martin Fierro, top piece of José Hernández.

While outlawed by Sarmiento and hiding in the Gran Hotel Argentino —practically in front of the Government House, in Buenos Aires— Hernández began to write some love poems.

Without interrupting his work, he then wrote —on brown paper from a grocery store notebook— the seven and a half cantos that still survive from the first edition of El Gaucho Martín Fierro. On November 28, 1872, the newspaper La República began the serial publication of Hernández's poem, which was completed shortly after. In December of that year, the Martín Fierro appeared in book format, edited by the La Pampa printing house, preceded by an important letter from the author to his friend and editor José Zoilo Miguens.

"The poem collects some folkloric sources (dialogues between gauchos, certain estrophic combinations), indigenous gauchescas sources (similar with some other gauchescos poems, in verses or passages), and romantic sources (previous of Echeverría and its Cautiva, local color, rebellion, exaltation of the bandit, some stylistic traits, reminis

Loprete (1978), p. 422

The work immediately began to be sold in rural areas. It was read in groups, in kitchens or grocery stores, and its great success was due to the fact that it truthfully depicted the vicissitudes of the gaucho and the countrymen recognized themselves in the protagonist's misfortune.^{[citation required]}

In 1879, when the book had already been republished many times,^{[citation needed]} the continuation of the work was published, called La vuelta by Martín Fierro, in an edition illustrated by Carlos Clérice. Both parts make up Martín Fierro, an extensive native poem, which is described as a masterpiece of its kind,^{[citation required]} since it achieves the sociological interpretation of an era and a society, combines the lyrical, the descriptive, the satirical and the epic, reaching the characters of an epic.

The great merit of José Hernández was to bring to literature the life of a gaucho telling it in the first person, with his own words and imbued with his spirit. In the gaucho, Hernández discovered the embodiment of the courage and integrity inherent in an independent life. This figure was, according to him, the true representative of the Argentine character.

What the author had not achieved with his political activity he obtained through literature. Through poetry he got a great echo for his proposals, and the Martín Fierro was his most valuable contribution to the cause of the gauchos. ^{[citation needed ]}

Works

Death

Sepulchre of José Hernández, in the cemetery of the Recoleta. For its historical value, the tomb enjoys legal protection: it was appointed national historical monument.

José Hernández died on Thursday, October 21, 1886 in his country house in Belgrano, located at 468 Santa Fe Street (now Cabildo Avenue), due to a heart condition —myocarditis that led to a heart attack. His last words were: «Buenos Aires... Buenos Aires...».

His remains rest in the Recoleta Cemetery in the city of Buenos Aires.

Tributes

A town in the La Plata district, a station on Line D of the Buenos Aires Subway, as well as the street in the Belgrano neighborhood corresponding to said station, bear his name. A station of the General Roca Railway, currently in disuse, also bears his name. Line 252 of buses in Buenos Aires is called Transportes José Hernández. The José Hernández school, located in Villa Ballester, as well as another educational institution in Florencio Varela, also bear his name.

In Argentina, the Day of Tradition is celebrated on November 10, for the day of his birth.

The singer Juana Molina has a song called "Martín Fierro", in which she interprets some verses from the book "el gaucho Martín Fierro".

The Argentine heavy metal band, Almafuerte, pays homage to him by naming him in their song Zamba de resurrección, written by Ricardo Iorio and composed by Claudio Marciello.

The asteroid (19079) Hernández was named in his honor.

Used bibliography

• Aguirre, Maximum (1972). Anales de la Sociedad Rural Argentina.
• Auza, Nestor Thomas (1978). Journalism of the Confederation; 1852-1861. Buenos Aires: Eudeba. |fechaacceso= requires |url= (help)
• Borges, Jorge Luis (1979). "Martin Fierro". Buenos Aires: Emecé. |fechaacceso= requires |url= (help)
• Crocco, Mario. Historic-biographical study by José Hernández, epilogue to the full text of Martín Fierro (Ida and Vuelta),. Consultation on 22 November 2011.
• Chávez, Fermin (1959). José Hernández, journalist, politician and poet. Buenos Aires: Cultural Editions Argentinas. |fechaacceso= requires |url= (help)
• Chávez, Fermin (1986). Life and death of López Jordan. Buenos Aires: Hyspamérica. ISBN 950-614-537-7. |fechaacceso= requires |url= (help)
• De Marco, Miguel Angel (2006). History of Argentine journalism. From the origins to the centenary of Argentina. Buenos Aires: Ed. de la Universidad Católica Argentina. ISBN 987-1190-50-6. |fechaacceso= requires |url= (help)
• de Paoli, Pedro (December 1949). Ciordia & Rodríguez, ed. The motives of Martin Fierro in the life of José Hernández (2nd edition).
• Loprete, Carlos Alberto (1978). Spanish, Spanish and Argentine literature. Plus Ultra.
• Ortale, María Celina (2009). "Unknown collaboration of José Hernández in El Litoral de Evaristo Carriego". Academic Memory: Repository of the Faculty of Humanities and Education Sciences (FaHCE) of the National University of La Plata. VII Orbis Tertius International Congress of Theory and Literary Criticism (La Plata, 18, 19 and 20 May 2009). Consultation on 19 August 2016.
• Padula Perkins, Jorge Eduardo (1996). Journalist José Hernández. Archived from the original on 11 November 2013. Consultation on 22 November 2011.
• Pagés Larraya, Antonio (A952). Prosas del Martín Fierro. Buenos Aires: Raigal. |fechaacceso= requires |url= (help)
• Areco, Javier Mariano (2012). From the parties to the whole and José Hernández multitasked. Archived from the original on 11 November 2013. Consultation on 12 November 2012.