José María Cabal

José María Cabal
Portrait of Cabal by José María Espinosa
President of the Confederated Cities of the Cauca Valley
In office June 10, 1812 – 1816
Preceded by	Joaquín Cayzedo
Succeeded by	None
Personal details
Born	(1769-05-25)May 25, 1769 Guadalajara de Buga, Viceroyalty of New Granada
Died	August 19, 1816(1816-08-19) (aged 47) Popayán, Viceroyalty of New Granada
Spouse	Sophie Leclair
Military service
Allegiance	New Granada
Rank	Brigadier General
Battles/wars	Colombian War of Independence Nariño's Southern Campaign Battle of the Palo River Battle of Cuchilla del Tambo

José María Cabal (Guadalajara de Buga, 25 May 1769 - Popayán, 19 August 1816) was a Neogranadine military and political leader during the Colombian War of Independence.

Early Years

José María Cabal was born on May 25, 1769 in the Hacienda "La Concepción del Alisal" near the town of Guadalajara de Buga in the Viceroyalty of New Granada in the Spanish Empire. He was the son of José Cayetano Cabal and María Teresa Barona, Cabal was baptized in the chapel of the hacienda where he was born and would spend his formative years there.

In 1785, Cabal traveled to the city of Popayán to study at the Colegio Seminario de Popayán. During the next five years he studied philosophy and grammar, he was reportedly and excellent student and was heavily influenced by his teacher José Félix de Restrepo, among his classmates were other notable neogranadines, such as Camilo Torres, Francisco José de Caldas, and Francisco Antonio Zea who would later become important figures in the struggle for independence of Colombia.

In 1792 Cabal applied and was accepted to study at the Colegio Real y Seminario de San Bartolomé in the viceregal capital of Santa Fe de Bogotá. There he began his studies in law and would also form a close relation with his classmate Francisco Antonio Zea.

The relationship between the two was very close, with Cabal writing in a letter to his father "I must tell you that I owe a part of my intelligence due to Zea...". Through Zea, Cabal became involved in literary circles in the city whose members were prominent creoles who followed the ideas of the enlightenment.

Arrest and Exile

In 1794, Cabal was arrested when members of his literary circle where found with translated copies of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen which had been translated by Antonio Nariño. Along with Nariño and Cabal other members were also arrested such as Zea and Luis De Rieux. The accused where then promptly sentenced to exile for their crimes.

Cabal was the transported to Spain where in Cádiz he awaited a decision on his case by judicial authorities. He was then subsequently absolved of his crime, after this decision Cabal traveled to Madrid where he began his studies in natural history and botanical studies which soon became his life long passion. In 1801 he received news of the death of his father, the following year he traveled to Paris, France.

Cabal remained in the French capital for next seven years, where he continued his studies he had begun in Spain as well as learning mineralogy with aims of returning to Spain and New Granada as part of the Spanish Royal Mining company. During his time there he met with other important Latin American figures who resided in the French capital some of whom later became influential figures in the struggle for Spanish American independence those being a young Simón Bolívar as well as Francisco de Miranda. In 1804, he married a French woman, Sophie Leclair, with whom he had a son named Augusto Maria. In 1809 Cabal decided to return to New Granada as a result of the start of French invasion of Spain, but was unable to take his family with him as Spanish law saw their marriage as not valid as the French Republic had suspended catholic marriages and was a atheist state, as a result under Spanish law Cabal was considered an adulterer.

After a long journey, Cabal returned to New Granada after being 14 years abroad, arriving in April of 1809 in Santa Marta, he then traveled to the capital of Santa Fe where he met with his former classmate Francisco Jose de Caldas, where he presented him with some new plants he had brought from Jamaica. He did not stay long in the capital, and returned to his family’s hacienda in the Cauca Valley after having left 17 years ago.

As result of his travels, Cabal had collected a large number of new plants that he introduced to New Granada, and dedicated himself to agricultural work and scientific studies for the time being. This would change soon after as revolution swept New Granada Independence revolution in 1810, in which he participated as a deputy for Caloto, Cauca in the Provisional Government Board of the Confederated Cities of Valle del Cauca.

War of Independence

Despite dedicating his time to tending to his hacienda as well as his studies in botany and mineralogy, Cabal soon became entangled in the unstable political situation that was developing in New Granada. In early 1810 the Spanish authorities had attempted to name him as mayor of the city of Buga, a position he refused to accept. That same year various cities in New Granada rose up in revolt and deposed the Spanish authorities in charge of them and replaced them with governing juntas that wanted more autonomy within the Spanish Empire. In the capital Santa Fe on July 20, 1810 a popular revolt ended up deposing Viceroy Antonio Amar y Borbón and replaced him with a governing junta. In the city of Cali a provisional junta was also established that was meant to represent all of the cities within the province of Popayán. Various delegates were sent to Cali to represent their respective cities, Cabal was chosen as a delegate representing the city of Caloto, where his family owned a large amount of land. This provisional junta would eventually form the Confederated Cities of the Cauca Valley, Cabal along with other delegates signing the act of its creation in 1811.

The confederation attempted to have Popayán join as well, however its Spanish governor Miguel Tacón y Rosique considered the junta illegal and after various months of threats, deployed troops to put down the junta. This action led the confederation to ask the patriots in Santa Fe for military assistance, who subsequently deployed 150 troops under the command of Colonel Antonio Baraya to assist them. These troops joined forces with those from the confederation and defeated the royalist troops at the Battle of Bajo Palacé on March 28, 1811. This victory forced Tacón and the royalists to retreat south and abandon Popayán to the victorious Patriot forces who entered the city on April 1st. The junta then moved from Cali to Popayán where they delegated on choosing the president and vice president of the junta. On June 26th 1811 Joaquin Caycedo y Cuero was elected president and Jose Maria Cabal as vice president.

The junta would soon begin a military campaign to liberate the southern cities of Pasto and Quito, fearing that a royalist threat from the south could jeopardize their existence. President Caycedo would lead this southern campaign himself, and departed with the Patriot troops on July 22, leaving Cabal in charge in his absence as well as assuming military control of Popayán. Alongside Cabal was an American adventurer Alexander Macaulay who was commissioned into the patriot army and who would assist him.

Caycedo and his forces eventually took the city of Pasto after lengthy negotiations. In 1812, the President of the Confederation, Joaquín Caycedo, moved to Pasto, leaving Cabal as president in Popayán, where he defeated the Royalist troops commanded by Antonio Tenorio, who attempted to take the city in April 1812. Appointed head of the Republican forces, he fought as a military leader in Nariño's Southern Campaign and several battles in the south of the country between 1813 and 1816.

Defense of the Valle del Cauca

After the withdrawal of the Army of the South to the Valle del Cauca, Cabal decided to garrison his troops in the town of Palmira, it would be here where he began his plan to reorganize and re-train the army. New training was implemented for the troops, with a focus on physical fitness, every day the troops would begin their day with marching from five in the morning for two hours at double pace. In addition, to training a new organizational doctrine was also implemented as Cabal had requested the War Secretariat of New Granada for authorization to adopt the French doctrine regarding divisional commands, something that was authorized by the government. These efforts on the part of Cabal were welcomed by the government of the United Provinces who decided to promote him from the rank of Colonel to the rank of brigadier general of the army of the union. After many months of preparation and the difficulties that came with these change, Cabal managed to reorganize the army of the south, the army now numbered around 1,200 infantrymen composed of five line battalions, these being the Battalions Cundinamarca, Socorro, Antioquia, Popayán and Cauca. In addition to these infantry battalions, Cabal had at his disposal about 150 light cavalry divided into two squadrons along with a squadron of artillery men and their cannons. The government of the united provinces also dispatched some officers to the southern army to assist Cabal in his task, such as Colonel Carlos de Montúfar a native of Quito and two French officers Colonel Manuel Roergas de Serviez and cavalry captain Honorato Dufour. Cabal incorporated these officers into his staff and appointed Montúfar as chief of headquarters and Serviez as his chief of staff. These efforts were necessary actions in order to ensure the defense of the Valle del Cauca from an expected royalist counter-offensive. This counteroffensive would be right around the corner as the governor of Quito Toribio Montes was preparing an army to invade the valley that would be led by Colonel Aparicio Vidauzárraga.

Vidauzárraga, who had taken control of Popayán after the retreat of the patriot army, after months of preparations and recent troops from Quito and Peru began his counteroffensive to invade the Valley at the end of June 1815 with about 2000 troops along with artillery. Cabal in anticipation of this, ordered the army’s vanguard to maintain an advanced position on the banks of the Ovejas River, the vanguard was made up of elements of the Socorro and Antioquia battalions numbering around 300 troops. This would not be the only plan that Cabal would have to defend the Valley. The Army of the South had devised defensive a plan to be implemented, in case superior forces attacked the advance positions at Ovejas and tried to conduct their offensive into the Valle del Cauca. This consisted of carrying out a dilatory defense by means of successive lines of resistance, located on the mound of El Pital, in the Alto de Mondomo and at the heights of Tremblera and Cascabel, in order to attract the enemy, and causing as much damage as possible, before leading them to the fortified field of El Palo, where Cabal planned to defeat them. Cabal had ordered the fortification of the Palo field towards the end of May, this field was located on the north bank of the Palo River north of the town Caloto.

This plan would go into effect when the patriot vanguard made contact with the royalist vanguard towards the end of June. The patriot vanguard fought with the enemy for two hours until the Socorro battalion commander Lieutenant Colonel Pedro Monsalve ordered his forces to retreat to Quilichao. Subsequently the royalists continued their march northwarda and on at noon on July 4, 1815, Vidauzárraga’s forces arrived on the opposite side of the Palo River. Although some of his commanders wanted to attack immediately, the Spanish commander decided to take his time to look for some way to cross the river and attack without having to deal with the patriot fortifications. While the Spanish conducted their reconnaissance of the field, that night of July 4, Cabal gathered all his officers to go over the last details prior to the beginning of the confrontation.

The Battle of the Palo river began at 5am in July 5, 1815 when a column of royalist troops crossed the river through a ford below the “pasó real” to avoid patriot defenses and attack their right flank. The two patriot units who were placed in advanced positions along the river, the Battalions Popayán and Cauca detected this movement and alerted the rest of the troops. The rest of the patriot troops came to the site and were formed in good order for the battle. While the adbaces unit withdrew from their positions in an organized fashion, Cabal prepared for battle and took command of the Cundinamarca battalion on the left, and ordered Montúfar in the center with the Socorro battalion and the three artillery pieces accompanied them in the center as well, on the right was Serviez with the Antioquia battalion.

Battle of the river Palo by José María Espinosa, Cabal can be seen in the center on-top his horse.

With the royalists already having crossed the River, they immediately engaged the patriots by ordering their cavalry to attack the left flank of the patriots. Cabal seeing this ordered the patriot cavalry to attack from the right, which managed to contain the assault of the royalists and caused panic among the king’s troops. The battle was defined shortly after with a simultaneous charge by the three battalions Cundinamarca, Socorro and Antioquia which threw the enemy into the river and put the royalists in retreat.

At 8:30 in the morning, the Spanish army was retreating in defeat with the patriots giving chase. From the top of the Cascabel hill, he sent a letter to the patriot governor of the province Francisco Cabal who was also his cousin, announcing the victory saying that:

“The arms of the republic have triumphed. Today at five in the morning the enemy presented us with a lot of intrepidity, having passed the river through the steps below. Our officers and soldiers have behaved like Republicans”

The victory allowed the patriots to recover Popayán, which had been taken by the Royalists.

In 1816, he resigned from command, after the defeat of the Republicans in the Battle of Cuchilla del Tambo. On 29 June he escaped to his ranch, where he was captured. By order of Colonel Francisco Warleta, he was tried and his property was confiscated.

José María Cabal was shot in the main square of Popayán on 19 August 1816.

Sources

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• Enciclopedia Banrepcultural