Federalist Revolution

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Brazilian Federalist Revolution
Part of Brazilian Naval Revolt
Gumercindo tropa.jpg
Gumercindo Saraiva and Maragato commanders
Date2 February 1893 – 23 August 1895
Location
South Region, Brazil
Result

Government victory

Belligerents
 Brazil Federalist rebels
Uruguayan volunteers
Navy rebels
Commanders and leaders
First Brazilian Republic Floriano Peixoto
First Brazilian Republic Júlio de Castilhos
First Brazilian Republic Pinheiro Machado
First Brazilian Republic  [pt]
First Brazilian Republic Gomes Carneiro †
First Brazilian Republic Antônio Moreira César		  [pt]
Gumercindo Saraiva †
 [pt]
Saldanha da Gama †
Custódio José de Melo
Aparicio Saravia
Strength
22,000 soldiers and militia 7,500 federalist rebels
~500 rebel sailors
Casualties and losses
approx. 10,000 dead

The Federalist Revolution (Portuguese: Revolução Federalista) was a civil war that took place in southern Brazil between 1893 and 1895, fought by the federalists, opponents of Rio Grande do Sul governor, Júlio de Castilhos, seeking greater autonomy for the state, decentralization of power by the newly installed First Brazilian Republic and, arguably, the restoration of the monarchy.[1]

Inspired by the monarchist ideologies of  [pt], who had been one of the most prominent politicians by the end of the monarchy, acted as political head of the revolution, the federalists had Gumercindo Saraiva as the military head supported by Aparicio Saravia, of the Uruguayan National Party, and by the Navy rebels who, defeated at the capital following the Rio de Janeiro Affair, moved south to strengthen the federalist forces. Also known as maragatos, the federalists fought the republican forces of the Brazilian Army headed by the Rio Grande do Sul senator and army general Pinheiro Machado.

The conflict was not limited to Rio Grande do Sul, affecting the entire southern region of the country, which was mostly under federalist control,[2] whose objective was to group the elements against the republican government of Floriano Peixoto and march to the capital, Rio de Janeiro, to depose him.[3][4][5] And the federalists effectively installed a parallel government, by deposing the presidents of the states they controlled and holding elections[6] and by adhering the proclamation by the navy rebels of Prince Pedro as Emperor Pedro III.[6][7] Nonetheless, after the Siege of Lapa, however, the federalists were unable to advance further, being defeated in the Battle of Campo Osório. The end of the war consolidated the Brazilian republic, leaving 10,000 dead, including many having been beheaded.[8]

Context[]

During the nineteenth century, the state of Rio Grande do Sul was often in a state of war. In the Ragamuffin War (1835-1845) and in the War of the Triple Alliance (1864-1870), the population of Rio Grande do Sul was devastated. In the last years of the Brazilian Empire, three antagonistic political leaders appeared in the region: the liberal Assis Brasil, the conservative Pinheiro Machado and positivist Júlio Prates de Castilhos. The three met to found the Rio-Grandense Republican Party (Partido Republicano Rio-Grandense) (PRR), which opposed the  [pt], founded and led by the liberal monarchist Gaspar da Silveira Martins. In 1889, with the Proclamation of the Republic, these currents came into conflict, so that in only two years the state would have eighteen governors.

Panorama of Castilhos[]

Júlio Prates de Castilhos, president-dictator of the state of Rio Grande do Sul.

Júlio Prates de Castilhos was born and raised in a gaucho resort and studied Law in São Paulo, where he had contact with the positivist ideas of Auguste Comte. After graduating, he returned to his homeland and began to write in the newspaper The Federation (Brazilian Portuguese: A Federação), attacking the monarchical government, slavery and his political opponent Gaspar da Silveira Martins. He was a constituent congressman in 1890-1891, and believed in a dictatorial phase to consolidate the Republic and defended a strong centralization of power in the republished dictator. Defeated in the national constituent, he implanted this idea in the state constitution, months later, in a text he wrote almost alone, ignoring suggestions from the commission of jurists highlighted for the task, and approved it in July 1891 at a controlled state assembly By the Riograndense Republican Party, led by him and of positivist orientation. The state constitution foresaw that the laws would not be drafted by parliament, but by the chief executive, who could be re-elected for new mandates. As the vote was not secret, the elections would be easily manipulated by the followers of Castilho, which would guarantee him to remain in power indefinitely.

In the same month that he approved his constitution, he was elected governor. In November, for having supported the coup of President Deodoro da Fonseca and the closing of the Congress, was deposed and replaced by a junta of government, that lasted little and soon passed the government to General Barreto Leite. Castilhos resumed a parallel government and was re-elected in a contest without competitors, taking possession in January 1893. At that moment, the state was the "nerve point of the Republic" and the answer of the opponents was imminent.

Panorama of Martins[]

 [pt], monarchist and founder of the Federalist Party.

 [pt], an intellectual and a good speaker, had been appointed minister by Emperor Pedro II in one of his last acts in an attempt to save the monarchy. Prisoner and exiled in Europe, returned in 1892, with the state already under the government of Júlio de Castilhos and founded the Federalist Party of Rio Grande do Sul, that defended the parliamentary system of government and the revision of the state constitution. With the possession of Castilhos, the caudillo Gumercindo Saraiva would also return to the state, coming from his refuge in Uruguay and leading a troupe of five hundred men. A second group, commanded by General  [pt], occupied another region of the state with a force of three thousand men. Threatened, the governor convinced the then President Floriano Peixoto that the uprising was an attempt by Silveira Martins to restore the monarchy. And indeed, it was. Silveira Martins, for being a declared monarchist, participated in meetings with other Brazilians who had the objective of restoring the parliamentary monarchy in Brazil. On that occasion he proposed to Isabel, Princess Imperial of Brazil to allow the soldiers linked to the Navy Revolt to take her eldest son, Pedro de Alcântara, Prince of Grão-Pará, to be acclaimed as Emperor Pedro III, whom the princess refused to fear for her son.

Pica-paus and Maragatos[]

Gumercindo Saraiva, leader of the Maragatos.

The followers of Gaspar da Silveira Martins, gasparistas or Maragatos (federalists), were frontally opposed to the followers of Júlio de Castilhos, castilhistas, pica-paus (woodpeckers) or ximangos (republicans).

The defenders of Júlio de Castilhos received the nickname of pica-paus or ximangos, because of the color of the uniform used by the soldiers who defended that faction, that resembled the birds of the region. This denomination extended to all the castilhistas, including civilians. Already the term maragato, which was used to refer to the political current that Gaspar da Silveira Martins defended, has a more complex explanation:

"In the province of Leon, Spain, there is a district called Maragateria, whose inhabitants have the name of maragatos, and that, according to some, it is a town of condemnable customs; therefore, living to wander from one point to another, with Freighters, selling and buying robberies and in turn robbing animals, they are a species of gypsies." -Romaguera.

The Spanish maragatos were eminently nomadic, and adopted professions that allowed them to be in constant displacement. In Uruguay, the inhabitants of the city of San José de Mayo were called maragatos, perhaps because their first inhabitants were descendants of the Spanish maragatos, who were responsible for bringing to the region of the River Plate the custom of the bombacha.

At the time of the revolution, legalistic republicans used this appeal as pejorative, with the meaning of "mercenaries." The reality offered some basis for this assertion - the leader Gumercindo Saraiva, one of the leaders of the revolution, had entered Rio Grande do Sul from Uruguay by the border of Aceguá, in the Cerro Largo Department, commanding a troop that included natives from that country. The family of Gumercindo, although of Portuguese origin, had fields in Cerro Largo. However, giving this nickname to the revolutionaries was a backfire. The denomination gained sympathy, and the rebels themselves came to be denominated maragatos. In 1896, they even created a newspaper bearing that name.

The War[]

Federalist offensive[]

Beginning[]

Trench on the sete de setembro st. during the siege of Bagé, 1893.

The disagreements began with the concentration of troops under the command of the maragato João Nunes da Silva Tavares, the Joca Tavares, Baron of Itaqui in fields of the woodworking, in Uruguay, locality near Bagé. Shortly after the potrero of Ana Correia, coming from Uruguay towards Rio Grande do Sul, was the federalist caudillo colonist Gumercindo Saraiva.

Efficiently, the maragatos dominated the border, demanding the deposition of Julio de Castilhos, who had been elected president of the state by direct vote. There was also the desire for a plebiscite where the people should choose the system of government. Due to the gravity of the movement, the rebellion quickly acquired nationwide, threatening the stability of the Riograndense government and the republican regime throughout the country. Floriano Peixoto, then in the Presidency of the Republic, sent federal troops under the command of general Hipólito Ribeiro to rescue Júlio de Castilhos. There were strategically organized three divisions, called legalists: the northern, the capital and the center. In addition to these, the state police and all its contingent were summoned to confront the enemy.

The first victory of the maragatos was in May 1893, next to the brook Inhanduí, in Alegrete, Riograndense municipality. In this fight along with the legalistic pica-paus took part Senator Pinheiro Machado, who had left his seat in the Federal Senate to organize the Division of the North, that led during all the conflict.

Maragatos advance[]

The Navy Revolt in Rio de Janeiro, led by admirals Custódio de Melo and Saldanha da Gama, joined the federalists and later fought in the south, giving them land troops support.

Gumercindo Saraiva and his troops went to Dom Pedrito, from there they began a series of lightning attacks against several points of the state, destabilizing the positions conquered by the Republicans. Then they headed north, advancing in November on Santa Catarina and arriving in Paraná, being detained in the city of Lapa, sixty kilometers southwest of Curitiba. At the time, then President Marshal Floriano Peixoto summoned veteran of the Paraguayan War, Colonel Gomes Carneiro. His orders were to halt the revolution. In five days, he came to the area to replace General Argolo. It was November 1893 and the revolutionary troops were now advancing towards the state of Paraná. On this occasion, Colonel Carneiro died in February 1894 without giving its positions to the enemy, in the episode that came to be known as the Siege of Lapa. The obstinate resistance opposed to the federalist troops in the city of Lapa, by Colonel Carneiro, frustrated the rebellious pretensions to arrive at the capital of the Republic.

In the capital, the Revolt of the Navy began, under the leadership of the monarchist Admiral Custódio José de Melo, who also fought against Floriano. After some exchange of gunfire with the army, the rebels went to the South. After docking in the city of Desterro, renamed to Florianópolis after the war, they proclaimed the city as a new capital of the federalist regime. Interests meant that the two revolts came to join.

"They have joined forces to overthrow Floriano. By sea, Custódio de Melo was responsible for striking Paranaguá, which happened in January 1894" says the judge and scholar Paul Hapner. By land, Gumercindo Saraiva advanced towards the state capital.[9]

Siege of Lapa[]

Main article: Siege of Lapa
Loyalist colonel Gomes Carneiro and the "martyrs" of Lapa.

In the same period that the coast was taken, the Maragatos passed by Tijucas do Sul and came to Lapa - only 60 km away from Curitiba, capital of the state of Paraná.

The state was in chaos. With the advance of the rebels, the state governor, Vicente Machado, fled from Curitiba. With only 639 men, few weapons and food shortages, Colonel Carneiro had a mission to contain the Federalists in Lapa. During 26 days, Carneiro and his army, called woodpeckers (Brazilian Portuguese: Pica-paus), bravely resisted the attacks of 3000 fighters commanded by Gumercindo Saraiva. "The troops of maragatos made a real siege to the city," says Hapner. At least 500 people died in the Siege of Lapa, including Carneiro. With the death of the commander in February, Lapa surrendered and left the passage open for the revolutionaries to take Curitiba.[10]

Despite the defeat, the battle in Lapa was critical for the Republican victory. Hapner considers the siege to have been a strategic error of the Maragatos: "If they wanted to go to Rio de Janeiro, they should not have wasted time in Lapa. This gave Floriano's army enough time to organize, ultimately defeating the Federalists", he says. For the historian Dennisson de Oliveira, "This was a mythical episode that, to the power established under Floriano, 'saved' the Republic."[9] After the battle, Gumercindo Saraiva, unable to advance, retired to Rio Grande do Sul. He died on 10 August 1894, after being shot by treason while recognizing the terrain on the eve of the Battle of Carovi.

Republican offensive[]

Federalist occupation and release of Curitiba[]

Loyalist troops in 1894.
Federalist troops in 1895.

At dawn on 17 January 1894, a brigade commanded by General João Meneses Dória took the Serrinha train and telegraphic station. With the complicity of the officials there, he began to respond to telegraph calls as if he were the loyalist troops of Lapa, warning that thousands of federalist rebels were marching towards Curitiba. There was panic in the capital and General Pego, the city's military commander, fled abandoning trains loaded with war material. Following the take over of Paranaguá, Tijucas do Sul and Lapa, and with the absence of govern and military forces in Paraná, the rebels easily entered Curitiba with a little force of 150 cavalrymen and a train which disembarked the federalist high officials.[11]

The death of Admiral Saldanha da Gama at the Battle of Campo Osório in 1895.

According to scholar Paul Hapner, evacuation of loyalist troops ordered by General Pego caused chaos in the city. Gumercindo Saraiva and Custódio de Melo had no obstacle. The city was firstly administered by a governative junta headed by  [pt] (The Baron of Serro Azul). The Baron of Serro Azul was called by the citizens to make an agreement with the revolutionaries to protect the population from violence, looting and rape. The Governing Junta of Curitiba became the "Commission for Launching the War Loan" for the purpose of raising funds for the rebels and thereby buying the city's protection. Although the Baron of Serro Azul and the merchants who supported the commission only sought to prevent looting and disorder, their actions committed them as collaborators with the rebel movement.

As the loyalist governor had been virtually overthrowned and fled the capital, the federalist leaders appointed a governor for Paraná - Colonel Teófilo Soares Gomes, who remained in power for only 20 days. "Then they gathered in a mansion that existed in the Alto da Glória and appointed another governor, João Meneses Dória, who remained until March" reports Hapner. After him, three others were appointed governors: Francisco José Cardoso Júnior, Tertuliano Teixeira de Freitas. The last Maragato governor in Paraná was José Antonio Ferreira Braga, in early May 1894.[9] Soon after, as the federalists were unable to advance further following the military victory but strategical mistake at the Siege of Lapa, they were forced to release Curitiba and hold their position back in Lapa, ultimatelly further retreating to Rio Grande do Sul, abbandoning Curitiba, which was taken back by the republican forces.[9]

Battle of Campo Osório[]

Main article: Battle of Campo Osório

In 24 June 1895 the Battle of Campo Osório, the last battle of the uprising, held along the border with Uruguay near Santana do Livramento, took place. Admiral Saldanha da Gama, with the Federalists, led 400 rebels, 100 of which being revolting navy sailors. They were attacked by a cavalry regiment of the Brazilian Army that counted 1,300 cavalrymen, led by General  [pt]. In the course of the battle, Admiral Saldanha da Gama, twice wounded by spears, was killed along with most of his men, many executed by sticking after surrender. The victorious Legalists suffered about 200 casualties.

End of conflict[]

The 32º infantry battalion occupying the Praça 7 de Setembro in Rio Grande do Sul, after the defeat of the Federalists (Le Monde Illustré, nº 1.941, 06/09/1894, drawing by L. Tinayre, according to photographs provided by ).

Peace treaty[]

Following the defeat at the Battle of Campo Osório, the federalists were left without any forces and started negotiating a ceasefire with the loyalist forces on behalf of the republican government. With Gumercindo Saraiva and Saldanha da Gama dead, Custódio de Melo exiled and Silveira Martins organizing a new federalist congress in Porto Alegre, Joca Tavares, the last military leader of the federalists, and Inocêncio Galvão, on behalf of President Prudente de Morais, signed a peace treaty in Pelotas on 23 August 1895 by which the republican government promised not to punish the federalists. "Peace was made and in such conditions that the republic and the authority that represents were left unharmed. It was also done without humiliation for the rebels, in honorable and satisfactory terms for all. In fact, the terms were far more satisfying to the legalists. The Gaucho Constitution was not modified, and Júlio de Castilhos remained in government until 1898."[12]

Historian Rafael Sêga, from the Federal Technological University of Paraná, explains: "The version that the Republic was imposed without blood was created by the ruling class, which wanted to legitimize itself. The 1889 coup caught the country off guard and it took three or four years for grievances to surface and the Empire's elites, jettisoned from power, to react. The Federalist Revolution opened the door to a series of bloody conflicts, such as Canudos and Contestado. The history of Brazil is anything but peaceful."[12]

Outcome[]

Execution of a federalist by loyalist forces in Ponta Grossa, April 1894.

The Federalist Revolution was likely the bloodiest civil war in independent Brazil's history, leaving circa 10.000 deads and many more wounded and the southern fields and some municipalities ravaged.[citation needed] Many who weren't kille in action were murdered by the victorious in each battle, and specially following the loyalist victory.

After the federalist takeover of Curitiba, they demanded "war loans" not to sack the city. It was during this period that Ildefonso Pereira Correia, The Baron of Serro Azul, devised a plan to rid the city from the Maragatos. He considered fighting in the city unnecessary as it would spill more blood; and so he made the decision to negotiate. In return for peace and the absence of looting, the Baron secretly lent, with the support of some traders, money to Gumercindo Saraiva, head of the Maragatos. The negotiations, however, were seen as betrayal by the defenders of Floriano. Thus, Maragatos left the city in May and Vicente Machado, the deposed governor of Paraná, returned to power. However, the Baron of Serro Azul and five companions were kidnapped. They were taken by train towards Paranaguá, under the pretext that they would board a ship headed towards Rio de Janeiro, where they would receive an award, but it was a trap. The Baron of Serro Azul and his allies were unloaded from the train and shot in the Serra do Mar, accused of treason for negotiating with the Maragatos.[9]

Gaspar da Silveira Martins did not took the federalist defeat lightly. With the victory of Júlio de Castilhos and the consequent pacification, he organized a new federalist congress in Porto Alegre. From then on, he began to pay more attention to his life at the Rincón Pereyra ranch, which he owned in Uruguay, having died suddenly, in a hotel room in Montevideo. The general Joca Tavares and admiral Custódio de Melo left politics and the military for good; the first retired to his farm in Bagé, where he died in 1906 at the advanced age of 87, while the admiral died in Rio de Janeiro in 1902 at the age of 61. Following the death of Gumercindo Saraiva, his brother Aparício Saravia returned to Uruguay where he became the leader of the Blanco Party and led a civil war against the ruling Colorado Party.

In Rio de Janeiro, the presidential republic was consolidated and had its first civil government with the indirect election of Prudente de Morais, replacing the dictatorial Floriano Peixoto, who withdrew from public life. Ideas of parliamentarism were abandoned, and this was the last major conflict for the restoration of the monarchy (although there were others until 1902), with monarchism being abbandoned.

Foreign involvement[]

Throughout the revolution, the Maragatos had constant support in Corrientes Province, Argentina, and also from the National Party of Uruguay, oppositor to the then rulling Colorado Party, historically an ally of the Brazilian government. That allowed the federalists to smuggle weapons across the border, to practice tactical raids on foreign territory to escape persecution, and to take refuge in neighboring countries at times of disadvantage against the enemy.

In the federal capital of Rio de Janeiro, the Navy Rebels, aligned with the federalists, faced an direct foreign intervention when an American fleet headed by Admiral Andrew E. K. Benham, stationed at the Guanabara Bay, engaged in a series of conflicts with the Brazilian rebel ships in what came to be known as the Rio de Janeiro Affair, resulting in a heavily damaged Brazilian ironclad and in lowering the morale of the rebel sailors, whose leader, Admiral Saldanha da Gama, offered to surrender his fleet to the Americans, who refused.

In 1894 President Floriano Peixoto broke official diplomatic relations with the Kingdom of Portugal, accusing the Portuguese government of supporting the exiled rebel sailors. Accordingly, since the navy rebels were branded as monarchists, Floriano believed the King of Portugal, Carlos I, of encouraging revolutionary enterprises to restore the monarchy of the House of Braganza in Brazil. Brazil-Portugal relation were only back to normal in 1895 following the defeat of the federalist and navy revolts.

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Miriam Ilza Santana (15 October 2007). "Revolução Federalista" (in Portuguese). InfoEscola. Retrieved 25 September 2012.
  2. ^ Walter Fernando Piazza (1983). Santa Catarina: sua história (in Portuguese). Federal University of Santa Catarina. p. 508.
  3. ^ "Revolução Federalista". POLÍCIA MILITAR DO PARANÁ (in Portuguese). Retrieved 22 August 2020.
  4. ^ "Revolução Federalista" (in Portuguese). InfoEscola. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
  5. ^ "Folha de S.Paulo - Fovest - 08/05/2003". www1.folha.uol.com.br. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
  6. ^ a b Bueno, Eduardo (2003). Brasil: uma História (in Portuguese) (1st ed.). São Paulo: Ática.
  7. ^ Pierre Petit (21 July 1894). "The Uneasy South America". The Graphic. Retrieved 14 February 2021.
  8. ^ Alzira Alves de Abreu. "Revolução Federalista". Fundação Getúlio Vargas (in Portuguese). Retrieved 24 March 2021.
  9. ^ a b c d e "E a revolução esbarrou no Paraná". Gazeta do Povo (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2016-11-08.
  10. ^ Francisco Brito de, Lacerda (1985). Cerco da Lapa: do começo ao fim (in Portuguese). Curitiba, PR: Lítero-Técnica.
  11. ^ "Para a História": a saga de um livro oculto por 85 anos". Câmara Municipal de Curitiba. May 19, 2015. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
  12. ^ a b Ricardo Westin (3 August 2015). "Na revolução federalista em 1893 senadores chegaram a pegar em armas" (in Portuguese). Senado Federal. Retrieved 11 January 2022.

External links[]

Media related to Federalist revolution in Brazil at Wikimedia Commons

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