Pablo Morillo

Pablo Morillo y Morillo, Count of Cartagena and Marquess of La Puerta, a.k.a. El Pacificador (The Peace Maker) (5 May 1775 – 27 July 1837) was a Spanish general. He fought against French forces in the Peninsular War. After the restoration of the Spanish Monarchy, Morillo led an expedition with the goal to restore absolutism in Spain's possessions in the Americas.
Early career
In 1791 he enlisted in the Real Cuerpo de Infantería de Marina (Spanish Royal Marine Corps) and during the War of the First Coalition participated in the landing operation on San Pietro Island in 1793, as part of the campaign that repelled the French expedition to Sardinia and later that year was wounded at the Siege of Toulon.
During the War of the Pyrenees, he took part in the Siege of Roses (1794–1795).
During the Anglo-Spanish War (1796–1808), Morillo saw action at the Battle of Cape St. Vincent (1797), on board the San Isidro, which was captured and he was taken prisoner. The following October he was promoted to sergeant and sent to Cadiz, where he took part in the defence of the city following the British assault and blockade.
At the Battle of Trafalgar (October 1805), he was wounded while serving on board the San Ildefonso, which was captured. Morillo then spent the following three years at the barracks at Cadiz awaiting an assignment on one of the few Spanish ships that survived the defeat.
Peninsular War
With the outbreak of the War, Morillo left the Spanish Navy to enlist in the Llerena Voluntary Corps, in which, given his military experience, he was made a sub-lieutenant. In June 1808, he saw action at the Battle of Bailen and, later that year, saw action at Elvas, Almaraz and Calzada de Oropesa. He was promoted to lieutenant that December. The following January he was promoted to captain and sent to Vigo, in Galicia, where the commander of the French garrison, besieged by guerrilleros, refused to capitulate to civilians and demanded the presence of a high-ranking officer.
Morillo's rank was not accepted, but as the only officer present, the besiegers appointed him their colonel, and he was thus able to negotiate the terms of capitulation. Regarding this incident, Oman (1903), citing various sources, offers a different version of the events at Vigo.
Following the capitulation of Vigo, Marshal Ney occupied Santiago de Compostela, and headed towards Vigo. Morillo's troops intercepted the French force, and at the Battle of Puente Sanpayo, forced it to retreat.
Post-war career
Once the war ended and the Spanish monarchy was restored, King Ferdinand VII of Spain appointed him Expedition Commander and General Captain of the Provinces of Venezuela on 14 August 1814. He set sail with a fleet of 18 warships and 42 cargo ships and disembarked in Carupano and Isla Margarita with the mission to pacify the revolts against the Spanish monarchy in the American colonies. He travelled to La Guaira, Caracas, Puerto Cabello, Santa Marta and Cartagena de Indias (United Provinces of New Granada) in a military campaign to fight Simon Bolívar's revolutionary armies.
On 22 August 1815 Morillo put the walled city of Cartagena under siege, preventing any supplies from going in until 6 December that year, when the Spanish Royal Army entered the city. With control over Cartagena, Morillo returned to Venezuela to continue the fight against revolutionaries. In June 1820 Morillo, under Royal mandate, ordered that everyone in the colonies obey the Cadiz Constitution and sent delegates to negotiate with Bolivar and his followers. Bolivar and Morillo later met in the Venezuelan town of Santa Ana and signed a six-months' armistice followed by a second one named "War Regularization".
Morillo returned to Spain, was named General Captain of New Castile, and supported the Liberal Constitution during the Liberal Triennium. He prevented a coup against the Constitution in 1822, and fought in 1823 the French invasion under Louis-Antoine, Duke of Angoulême in the north of Spain, where he was defeated.
When King Ferdinand VII restored the absolute regime in 1823, Morillo went to France. A few years later, he returned to Spain and participated in some military operations during the Carlist Wars. He felt ill and went back to France where he died on 27 July 1837, in Barèges.
See also
Spanish reconquest of New Granada
Reconquista (Spanish America)
Royalist (Spanish American Revolution)
Notes
References
Bibliography
Costeloe, Michael P. (1986). Response to Revolution: Imperial Spain and the Spanish American Revolutions, 1810-1840. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Earle, Rebecca (2000). Spain and the Independence of Colombia, 1810-1825. Exter: University of Exter Press.
Stoan, Stephen K. (1959). Pablo Morillo and Venezuela, 1815-1820. Columbus: Ohio State University Press.
External links
National Museum of Colombia - Pablo Morillo
1775 births
1837 deaths
People from the Province of Zamora
People of the Venezuelan War of Independence
Spanish soldiers
Spanish generals
Captains General of Venezuela
Spanish commanders of the Napoleonic Wars