page_title: Manuel Marques de Sousa, Count of Porto Alegre
section_title: Wars for Cisplatina
hierarchical_section_title: Manuel Marques de Sousa, Count of Porto Alegre / Early years / Wars for Cisplatina
caption_attribution_description: English: The City Palace in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
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: News arrived in Montevideo in late 1822 that Prince Dom Pedro, son and heir of King João VI, had declared the independence of Brazil on 7 September and had been acclaimed emperor as Dom Pedro I on 12 October. Marques de Sousa was dispatched to Rio de Janeiro by the Baron of Laguna to pledge loyalty to the Emperor on behalf of the army in the south. The young alferes was an apt choice for the task; he was well connected in the imperial capital (his uncle, married to a paternal aunt, was Minister of War), cultured, and well educated. Marques de Sousa was a handsome man of average height with dark, curly hair and brown eyes. Fastidious about his appearance, he always took care to dress well, even during battles, and contemporaries made note of his trimmed and clean nails. He was also merry and gallant, with a "pleasant and well-tuned voice in conversation, ample and resounding in command".
  Brazilian independence did not meet with unanimous approval in the south. Part of the army, led by Dom Álvaro de Macedo (later Count of Ilha da Madeira), entrenched itself in Montevideo and remained loyal to Portugal. The town was besieged by forces under Laguna. Following his return from the imperial capital, Marques de Sousa served under his father's command, taking part in the siege and later fighting in the successful Battle of Las Piedras on 18 May 1823. In early 1824, Macedo and his men surrendered. The end of the Brazilian War of Independence came at a cost for Marques de Sousa. His father was mysteriously murdered with poison in Montevideo on 21 November 1824, leaving him the head of his family at age 20, as his paternal grandfather had died (of old age) on 22 April 1822. He was promoted to lieutenant (modern-day first lieutenant) on 1 December 1824 for his acts of bravery during the war.
  A few months after his promotion, in April 1825, secessionists in Cisplatina rebelled. The United Provinces of the Río de la Plata attempted to annex the province, and in retaliation Brazil declared war, triggering the Cisplatine War. Although Marques de Sousa was living in Rio de Janeiro and enrolled in the Military Academy, he was ordered to return to Montevideo. He was soon named adjutant to Brigadier Sebastião Barreto Pereira Pinto, commander of the 1st Division, which was defending Rio Grande do Sul. Marques de Sousa fought in the unsuccessful Battle of Ituzaingó (known to Brazilians as the Battle of the Passo do Rosário) on 20 February 1827. For his acts of bravery during the ill-fated battle, he was promoted on 20 March to captain, and, on 16 August, he was assigned as adjutant to the now Viscount of Laguna, commander-in-chief of Brazilian land forces in the conflict. Marques de Sousa subsequently fought in the Battle of Camaquã on 28 April and participated in other, smaller skirmishes.
caption: Rio de Janeiro, capital of the Empire of Brazil, with the City Palace at the center
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