Juan Francisco de Vidal La Hoz

Juan Francisco de Vidal La Hoz (Supe, April 2, 1800 - Lima, September 23, 1863) was a Peruvian soldier and politician, who held the presidency of his country for two brief periods: in 1835-36, and in 1842-43. He was known under the pseudonym First Soldier of Peru , because he joined the patriotic cause from a very young age during the War of Independence. He had 5 children and four were in the military.

Biography

He was the son of Julián Vidal and Ventura Laos (or La Hoz). In his childhood he helped his father with the farm chores, and he became an excellent swimmer and horseman; although it is also stated that he went to Lima to study at the conciliar seminary of Santo Toribio, and that he only worked in the fields during vacation periods. The truth is that he was present at the proclamation of Independence made in Supe on April 5, 1819, while Thomas Cochrane's patriot troops disembarked in his first cruise. He was admitted to the Chilean patriot forces as a second lieutenant in the marine infantry, and was entrusted with establishing contact with the patriots in Lima, as well as requisitioning money and capturing prizes. He traveled with the squadron to Valparaíso (Chile), to return later with the second cruiser in September 1819. He participated in the pursuit of the frigate Prueba to Puná Island, and in Supe he managed to obtain food and water. for the tired and sick crew. He went back to Chile, and under Cochrane's orders he marched south, where the royalists still resisted. At the head of a detachment of 24 men, he stormed the Valdivia fort on February 4, 1820, an episode known as the Taking of Valdivia, where he stood out for his courage and courage, and a phrase he said then is remembered: “Where my cap fits, I fit in”. For this outstanding performance he was called "The first soldier of Peru."

He was promoted to captain, joining the 4th Company of the 8th Battalion of the Andes. At that time, the Liberating Expedition bound for Peru was being prepared in Chile. Before the departure of said expedition, Vidal was commissioned to carry communications to the Peruvian patriots, but he was shipwrecked off Huarmey on August 10, 1820, and together with a few surviving companions he was found by some bandits. They took him to Pativilca, but he managed to escape and went to Supe. The royalists made him a series of offers to add him to their ranks, but he refused, for which he was persecuted. Hearing of the landing of the Liberation Army of José de San Martín in Ancón, he agreed with other young men from Supe to give a coup to the royalists, which consisted of the capture of 500 horses and 150 prisoners with their weapons, with whom they presented before San Martín in the patriot camp.

He was commanded by a force in the mountains, to support the expedition of General Juan Antonio Álvarez de Arenales. He dedicated himself to organizing guerrillas or montoneras with which he harassed the royalists in the vicinity of Lima. When this city was abandoned by the Spanish in July 1821, Vidal and his troops dedicated themselves to harassing them throughout their retreat to the mountains. Seriously wounded in the Socos ravine, he spent long months recovering. He was associated with the Order of the Sun on December 12, 1821.

He was incorporated into the Peruvian Legion and took part in the battle of La Macacona, on April 7, 1822, which was a disaster for the patriotic weapons. As the Legion had to be reorganized, he was commissioned to gather new troops in Yauyos. After the Balconcillo mutiny, which occurred on February 26, 1823 and which overthrew the Government Junta, the new president José de la Riva-Agüero sent him to garrison Huánuco. After the arrival of Simón Bolívar and the arrest of Riva Agüero in Trujillo, he entered the mountain where the tribes of the panataguas, rejecting the offer of the Spaniards to join their side. When Bolívar unified the country under his command, he appeared before him in Lima and requested that he be entrusted with the guerrillas in the vicinity of La Oroya, to harass the royalists. Promoted to lieutenant colonel, on November 10, 1823, he fulfilled his objective by preventing the Spanish general Juan Ramírez from threatening the patriot rearguard before the battle of Junín. He then directed diversionary operations to the north, threatened the royalists who were in Lima, in November 1824; and before Bolívar himself he fought in Miranaves against a column that came out of the Real Felipe Fortress, on February 1, 1825.

He then traveled to Bolivia, with documents for General Antonio José de Sucre. Back in Peru, he was involved in an alleged conspiracy (July 27, 1826), being exiled to Chile along with General Mariano Necochea and others involved. He returned after the nationalist reaction on January 27, 1827, which overthrew the Bolivarian regime. He was appointed governor of the Callao fortress.

Assigned to Ayacucho at the end of 1827, he organized an expedition against the Iquichan rebels of Huanta, who were still fighting for the Spanish crown. He managed to subdue the insurgents, whose leaders he captured in May 1828. He later accompanied President José de La Mar in the campaign against Gran Colombia. He was in the surprise of Saraguro on November 13, 1829 and defended the Peruvian rear in the battle of Portete de Tarqui. He then moved to the Piura headquarters and when the president was deposed by General Agustín Gamarra, he was sent to Guayaquil with instructions to the heads of the occupation troops.

After peace was restored with Colombia, he assumed command of the Callao Battalion stationed in Lima. He was promoted to colonel on September 11, 1829 and became aide-de-camp to President Gamarra. He participated in the campaign on the border with Bolivia in 1831, became commander of the Ayacucho garrison; and he was promoted to brigadier general in December 1832.

Elected deputy for Lima in 1833, he joined the National Convention (constituent assembly). He was commissioned to quell the revolution started in the department of La Libertad by Felipe Salaverry, whom he faced in a combat fought in the Garita de Moche (north of current Puerto Salaverry), on November 19, 1833. The meeting was very bloody and it is said that Salaverry was about to die at the hands of the musician González, but Francisco de Vidal prevented him, before which Salaverry he exclaimed: "Thank you, generous!" In the end, Vidal was victorious, who pursued Salaverry until he was taken prisoner in Piura, but generously helped him escape. Meanwhile, General Luis José de Orbegoso had been elected provisional president on December 20, 1833; A few days later, General Pedro Bermúdez rose up. Vidal remained obedient to the legal regime and participated throughout the campaign that ended with the surrender of the coup leaders.

When Orbegoso began his political tour of the southern departments in November 1834, Vidal, as chief of the General Staff of the Army, supported Vice President Manuel Salazar y Baquíjano in Lima, whom he followed in his retreat to Jauja, after Salaverry's proclamation as Supreme Chief, in February 1835. When Salazar renounced his weak authority, Vidal moved to Huaura. He took command of the National Guard and advanced towards Lima, which was unguarded and sacked by the bandit León Escobar, whom he captured and shot in the Plaza de Armas on December 30, 1835.

In Lima, he assumed the interim command of the Nation, until the return of Orbegoso, on January 9, 1836. Shortly after, he was promoted to Major General and appointed prefect of the department of Huaylas (or Áncash), where he remained at service of the Peru-Bolivian Confederation. Despite this, he supported the separation of the North-Peruvian State and participated in the combat of Portada de Guías that the Orbegosistas waged against the restaurateurs or Peruvian-Chilean allies against the Confederation (August 21, 1838). He was wounded in the combat, having to retire to Huaylas, where he found out about Orbegoso's trip abroad. He then placed himself under the orders of Gamarra against the Confederates. He fought at the Puente del Buin and in the battle of Yungay (January 20, 1839), where he commanded the third restoration division.

Successively, he was prefect and commanding general of the department of Junín; Chief of the General Staff of the Restoration Army; deputy for Huarochirí in the General Congress of Huancayo (1839); member of the Council of State and its second vice president (this position was equivalent to that of the third vice president of the Republic).

After the defeat and death in Ingavi of President Gamarra, anarchy broke out in Peru. Legally, the president of the Council of State, Manuel Menéndez, held the government, but some generals tried to usurp power. In November 1841, Vidal was named prefect of the department of Cuzco. He led the Army of the South against General Juan Crisóstomo Torrico (self-proclaimed Supreme Chief), whom he defeated in the battle of Agua Santa, on October 17, 1842. He assumed the presidency of Peru on October 20, due to the excuses of the president (Menéndez) and the first vice president of the Council of State (Justo Figuerola).

Vidal carried out his high office with probity and selflessness. They accompanied him as collaborators Benito Laso, Antonio Gutiérrez de la Fuente and Francisco Javier Mariátegui. He did everything in his power to remedy the ills of the public administration. He managed to reduce the debt contracted by the state and tax customs; It is also worth mentioning his effort to improve the education of youth; He was the one who brought Cayetano Heredia to the San Fernando school, and Bartolomé Herrera to the San Carlos school, but political anarchy came to frustrate his plans. He had to face the revolution led by General Manuel Ignacio de Vivanco, and not wanting to unleash a civil war, he declined the command in Justo Figuerola (March 15, 1843). Figuerola accepted and the next day he appeared at the palace, where Vidal presented him with the presidential sash.

Bailed to Chile, shortly after he returned to Peru to join the constitutional movement initiated by generals Domingo Nieto, Manuel de Mendiburu and Ramón Castilla, being appointed prefect of Cuzco (1844). Triumphant said revolution after the battle of Carmen Alto (July 22, 1844), he resumed his functions in the Council of State; and when the constitutional order was restored, he withdrew into private life (1845).

Appointed governor of Callao on February 2, 1854, he collaborated with President José Rufino Echenique until his overthrow after the battle of La Palma, on January 5, 1855. He then permanently withdrew from public life and promoted the founding of the Society of Founders of Independence and Qualified Defenders of the Homeland (1857).

First Soldier of Peru

The Supe District, carries his image on his shield.

His nickname of “First Soldier of Peru” was earned for his outstanding and decisive performance in an important episode of the independence of Chile: the capture of Valdivia, the most important colonial square in South America, after the fortresses of Callao, hitherto considered impregnable. At the head of 60 men, Vidal reduced the 600 Spaniards who garrisoned the castle of San Carlos (February 3, 1820). He himself recounts the episode in his memoirs:

... to the so many days of sailing, we arrived at the mouth of the river of Valdivia; the enemies received me with fire of cannon of the Castle of San Carlos, and separating us from their shots, threw us on the ground in a drunken beach, where the fires of a company of Spanish farmers awaited us, the fires of these by a [...] of the Monte cisuma, jump on the ground It's six o'clock in the afternoon when the tide starts to fill, when you don't overcome, you will be submerged by the waves, or you will die at the hands of our enemies, and so that you don't have hope of saving you, the boats you see that I order to retire on board." I left on the ground, Colonel Bochef and Major Miyer in charge of both of the colonna, and we walked through a very narrow fence like a thirteen rods, many times pouring on the rocks; from there (sic) we went out to a plate that formed under the fires of the Castle, this is formed by the light that makes the peninsula where the castle is already mentioned,

Written work

• Memory written in 1855, after the battle of La Palma. Memorias del general Vidal, que fueron publicados en Phoenix, magazine of the National Library of Peru. No. 6, pp. 595-640. Lima, 1949.