Thomas Martin Feuillet

Tomás Martín Feuillet (La Chorrera, Republic of New Granada, September 18, 1832 - Piendamó, Granada Confederation, February 1862) was a Colombian poet, romantic and military writer.

Biography

Bust by Tomás Martín Feuillet in La Chorrera, his hometown.

He was the son of Leandra Morales, a humble woman who gave him to José Martín and Juliana Feuillet de Martín in Panama City, who adopted him as their son under the name Tomás Martín Feuillet.

She did some of her studies in Panama. At the age of 17 he continued his studies of Spanish literature in Bogotá, but did not finish it because he contracted typhoid fever, which left him crippled in one leg for life. Later he traveled to Jamaica to study English.

The death of his adoptive mother forced him to return to Panama and, later, his adoptive father would also die. It was after the death of his adoptive parents that he discovered his true origin.

Literary career

Due to the loss of his parents and the knowledge of his origins caused the melancholy, pessimism and sadness that he expressed in his poems. Her most outstanding poem has been "La Flor del Espíritu Santo", dedicated to the national flower of Panama. Other outstanding poems that he wrote were "My portrait", "To the cross of San José", "Recuerdo", "How much do you have?", "To María", "The curse", "The snails", "Faith, hope and charity», «The angel and the child».

As a writer, he was a contributor to the newspapers El Panameno and El Centinela.

Political and military career

He was a Lieutenant of the Second Company of the Department's Militia Infantry Battalion and Assistant to the Panama District Gendarmerie, a position from which he resigned. On January 1, 1857, he is appointed Public Interpreter. Later, he became the Preceptor of Santa Ana Elementary School, a position that he also resigned. In August 1857, he received 123 votes in the elections for Representative. In February 1858 he was in charge of the Mayor's Office, as First Substitute for the holder and in December he was elected councilor.

At the beginning of 1860, José Francisco de la Ossa conferred broad power, and he traveled to the South, hired, it was said, by “El Sol de Piura”, in whose pages he left a handful of poems, some penetrated with somber humor. In December he returned to Panama, where shortly before a son had been born to him whose mother was Doña Vicenta Costa, to this child he dedicated one of his last verses.

Later, he moved to Peru, where he was the private secretary of General Julio Arboleda. Due to his military behavior in battles he was promoted to sergeant major. In January 1862 Arboleda's forces suffered a defeat. Among the numerous disappeared was the officer Miguel Arboleda, a close relative of General Arboleda.

Days later ―in February 1862―, Feuillet accompanied Manuel Antonio Arboleda, father of the prisoner, to establish exchange negotiations. However, they discovered that there were no survivors. When they undertook the return, they spent the night in a house on the road in the town of Piendamó (in present-day Colombia), and were assaulted and murdered by a group of Pijao indigenous people.

In a report submitted to the Colombian Senate, Jorge Holguín explained the details of the attack:

The first bayonets were received by Mr. It groves in the eyes, being completely blind from the first moment. Feuillet interposed, and when his sword unraveled, his right hand was cut off. He got his face fired from another tajo. Thus and all, the unsuccessful defended themselves with the stools, with the tables and with everything they could find by hand, going from one piece to another, between shouts and voices, insults and laughter.

Jorge Holguín, 1862