page_title: Manuel Marques de Sousa, Count of Porto Alegre
section_title: Legacy
hierarchical_section_title: Manuel Marques de Sousa, Count of Porto Alegre / Later years / Legacy
caption_attribution_description: Português: Estátua do Conde de Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre, Brasil
context_page_description: Manuel Marques de Sousa, Count of Porto Alegre, nicknamed "the Gloved Centaur", was an army officer, politician, abolitionist and monarchist of the Empire of Brazil. Born into a wealthy family of military background, Manuel Marques de Sousa joined the Portuguese Army in Brazil in 1817 when he was little more than a child. His military initiation occurred in the conquest of the Banda Oriental, which was annexed and became the southernmost Brazilian province of Cisplatina in 1821. For most of the 1820s, he was embroiled in the Brazilian effort to keep Cisplatina as part of its territory: first during the struggle for Brazilian independence and then in the Cisplatine War. It would ultimately prove a futile attempt, as Cisplatina successfully separated from Brazil to become the independent nation of Uruguay in 1828.
  A few years later, in 1835 his native province of Rio Grande do Sul was engulfed in a secessionist rebellion, the Ragamuffin War. The conflict lasted for almost ten years, and the Count was leading military engagements for most of that time.
context_section_description: The Count of Porto Alegre was admired during his lifetime and for some time after that. Felisberto Caldeira Brant, Baron of Barbacena (son of the Marquis of Barbacena) thought that "Marques de Sousa was the most brilliant type of soldier: heroic and patriotic." José Paranhos, Baron of Rio Branco, said that he was "one of the most illustrious warriors that Brazil has had." Alfredo d'Escragnolle Taunay, Viscount of Taunay, regarded him a "great warrior". Almost ten years after the count's death, a marble statue representing him was unveiled on 2 February 1885 in the city of Porto Alegre. The celebration was accompanied by popular joy and an artillery salute, and was attended by Dona Isabel, daughter and heiress of Pedro II, and her husband Prince Gaston, Count of Eu.
  The downfall of the monarchy in 1889 brought sudden changes in how past events were viewed. The Ragamuffins were reframed as heroes in Rio Grande do Sul, and Porto Alegre became an awkward reminder and symbol of the fallen regime. The memories of other imperial officers, Porto Alegre's contemporaries, were subject to the same sort of revisionism, including the Duke of Caxias. After Porto Alegre's death, a marble tablet with the inscription "Here was born the worthy Count of Porto Alegre" was put at the entrance of the house where he was born. The plaque was removed in 1893 by the property's owner and left to deteriorate. In the late 1890s, historian Afredo Ferreira Rodrigues lamented that it was the "testimony of one day's passing gratitude and of the indifference, of the abandonment, of the ingratitude, in which we [Brazilians], a people without civic education, know how to prize the services of the great men of the past." Although the Brazilian army remembered Caxias and celebrated his centennial in 1903, Porto Alegre's centennial in 1904 passed unnoticed.
  The work of historians has restored Porto Alegre's reputation to a certain extent. Heitor Lira said that "Porto Alegre was certainly an officer of great valor". Antônio da Rocha Almeida considered Porto Alegre "one of the greatest soldiers of Brazil". Gustavo Barroso regarded him "the greatest military figure in Brazil, after Caxias and Osório". Dante de Laytano said that he "was one of the most brilliant military leaders in the History of Brazil." On 16 October 1974, Porto Alegre was accorded the minor honor of being designated the patrono (protector) of the 8th Cavalry regiment, which was given the name "Regimento Conde de Porto Alegre" (Count of Porto Alegre Regiment).
caption: The statue of the Count of Porto Alegre in the city of Porto Alegre
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