Jose de San Martin “Liberator of the South”

1. Jose de San Martin“Liberator of the South” By: Shane Deyoc

2. Early Life Born February 25th, 1778, in Yapeyu Argentina. His parents were Juan de San Martín, a Spanish soldier, and GregoriaMatorras del Ser. Having been born with Spanish blood, but in the new world, this classified him as a creole. Juan de San Martin, father of Jose, requested to be transferred to Spain. The family moved to Madrid but after his father did not receive a promotion the family had to relocate to Malaga. In Malaga Jose received an education. Although it is believed that he did not finish his six year long elementary education program and instead enrolled in the Regiment of Murcia. He was just eleven years old when he began his military career.

3. Service in Spanish Military San Martin served in the Spanish Military starting around the 1790’s. He went on many campaigns throughout Africa and other nations. In the late 1790’s he began a naval career and fought in the “War of the Second Coalition” in which Spain was allied with France against Great Britain. San Martin fought in the Peninsular War, but after this conflict he moved to South America, where he was born, in order to join the Spanish-American Wars of Independence.

4. Joining the Fight for Freedom Jose de San Martin had heard of the troubles caused by the Spanish rule of his homeland, and felt inclined to go fight for the freedom of his home. After his arrival, San Martin was appointed the lieutenant colonel of cavalry, in Buenos Aires. Buenos Aires had lacked a proper cavalry until this point, and also lacked proper leadership by experienced military men. Jose San Martin organized the Regiment of mounted grenadiers.

5. Jose de San Martin’s leadership skills and military experience gave the Argentinean revolutionists an advantage that they had never seen before. They won many battles against the Spanish and eventually, after joining forces with other small armies led by other leaders, gained independence for Argentina from Spain. Jose de San Martin also played a part in Peru gaining independence from Spain. Without San Martin’s leadership, Argentina and many other South American countries could still have been under Spanish control.

6. As he became older, Jose de San Martin’s health deteriorated and he became nearly blind. San Martin died at three o’clock on August 17th 1850. He requested in his will to be buried in the cemetery with no funeral, and moved to Buenos Aires after. His body was embalmed and was going to be sent to Buenos Aires but several conflicts held up the transport of his body. On the 29th of May, 1880 his remains made it to Buenos Aires and they were put on display in a Mausoleum inside the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral.