Tomás de Herrera Tomás José Ramón del Carmen de Herrera y Pérez Dávila ( 21 December 1804 – 5 December 1854 ) was a neogranadine statesman and general who in 1840 became the first Head of State of the Free State of the Isthmus , now Panama . Tomás de Herrera also became President of the Republic of the New Granada in 1854 during the rebellion against the incumbent president José María Melo . Beginnings . Herrera was born on December 21 , 1804 . He entered military service in 1822 and became a lieutenant . He participated in the battles of Junín and Ayacucho against the royalists in Peru . In 1828 he was charged with conspiracy , and jailed in Bogota . Herrera escaped , was recaptured and sentenced to death , but his sentence was commuted to banishment . Upon completion of sentence , he returned to Panama in 1830 and participated in the fight against Colonel Alzuru . When Alzuru was shot , Herrera was appointed Colonel Commandant General of the Isthmus of Panama . He fought in the Cauca revolution in 1840 but the isthmus population did not want to join that conflict . A popular meeting in Panama on Nov . 18 , 1840 voted for the separation of Panama from Colombia , under the name of the State of the Isthmus with Colonel Herrera as president . He then organized the economy and obtained that Costa Rica and the United States would recognize the new country . The State of the isthmus lasted only 13 months . An agreement to which Herrera opposed reconvened the union between Panama and Colombia , which lasted until 1903 . Governor of Panama . In 1845 , Herrera returned to national political life as governor of Panama and later minister of War and Navy of the government of José Hilario López . In 1850 , he was appointed governor of the province of Cartagena and that same year he received the grade of general . In 1851 a revolution erupted in the provinces against the conservative government of President José Hilario López , whereupon the government appointed military commanders to quell the insurgency . Herrera had to confront the governor of Antioquia , Col . Eusebio Borrero , who was defeated and considered General Herrera as a military genius . Rise to power . Herrera was appointed by the presidency of Colombia in 1854 when he was a member of Congress . President José María Obando was ousted by a military coup on April 17 of that year . Vice President José de Obaldía met with Herrera and other characters in the Legation of the United States to try to assume power , offering Herrera the secretariat of war , nomination that the general refused because it deprived him of his congress seat . Days later , Herrera managed to evade military custody that the dictator Melo had established in Bogota . On April 21 , he arrived to Chocontá , where he declared himself exercising the executive power as a result of a letter of Obaldía stating that he was not able to form a government . Tasks of government . Herrera appointed Colonel Anselmo Pineda as Secretary of State responsible for Finances , war and foreign relations . Herrera continued his march and entered on April 23 to Tunja , thanks to Colonel Reyes Patria won the national guard ensconced in the city , where he appointed General Manuel Maria Franco as commander of the army and Reyes Patria commander of the provinces of Tunja and Tundama . Franco managed to build an army of 2557 men , which was the second commander Gen . Marcelo Buitrago and chief of staff Colonel Jose Maria Rojas Pinzón . Herrera came out with his army of Tunja to Nemocón , population they arrived on May 19 , and which should take one of two decisions : attacking the column of Colonel Manuel Jimenez Stake Zipaquirá , or continue the march up to join Honda to the forces comandandas by General Joaquin Paris . Herrera took the decision to attack Jimenez , on May 20 , 1854 and the resulting Battle of Zipaquirá was a disaster , where the constitutional forces were defeated unnecessarily . On the death of Franco , Herrera gave him the command of Army . Gen . Marcelo Buitrago , who has returned to the starting point of the battle , sought the departure of the troops to Tunja , while Herrera had taken the opposite direction , to continue with the plan original . With the support of the army Arboleda , Herrera rebuild the government appointing Ramon Mateus as secretary of war and foreign affairs , and Pastor Ospina Rodriguez as secretary of the interior and finance . They departed with a bataillon to join Paris but not succeeded , then sought to reach Ambalema by San Juan de Rioseco . At the port , Herrera named Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera as commander of Mompós , Panama and Costa and sent instructions to the governors . Then he left for El Guamo where he was joined by Gen . Lopez and the governor of Cauca . Herrera was finally able to get to Ibague and install the executive branch , where he issued decrees which called on lawmakers to start meetings on July 20 in Bogota . On July 15 , Herrera rebuild his cabinet , leaving Pastor Ospina in government , Jose Maria Soto Plata in Treasure , Ramon Mateus in Foreign Affairs and Pedro Alcantara Herran at war . On July 20 were 23 congressmen in Ibague , which did not allow Congress to sit for lack of quorum . Return to the ranks and death . On August 5 José de Obaldía assumed executive authority , appointing Herrera second in command of the army in the North . On September 28 Piedecuesta was in command of his troops when he received the visit of General Mosquera , commander in chief of the army . On Sept . 25 they succeeded in crossing the river Chicamocha . On December 2 They reached the outskirts of Bogota with the column commanded by General Camilo Mendoza . On December 4 , 1854 after the attack deployed by the army on the southern side of the city of Bogota , Herrera went into action in command of two battalions but he was seriously injured in the corner of the races Pamplona and Bárbula , and died shortly after . Retrieved from " http : / / es . wikipedia . org / wiki / Tom % C3 % A1s _ Herrera " Categories : Presidents of Colombia | Military Panama | Panama Political External links . Retrieved from " http : / / es . wikipedia . org / wiki / Tom % C3 % A1s _ Herrera "