Ángel Vicente Peñaloza Ángel Vicente " Chacho " Peñaloza ( 1796 – 1863 ) was a military officer and provincial leader prominent in both the history of La Rioja Province and the Argentine Civil War s that preceded national unity . Life and times . Early life and military experience . Peñaloza was born in Sierra de los Llanos , a rural community in southern La Rioja Province . Raised in privileged circumstances , he was educated by a priest . The priest , an uncle of the young Peñaloza ' s , nicknamed him " Chacho " ( a diminutive form of " muchacho " , or " guy " ) . He enrolled in the provincial militia , and fought under the command of Captain Juan Facundo Quiroga , reaching the rank of Captain by 1826 . That year , he fought in the Battle of La Ciudadela against Tucumán Province Governor Gregorio Aráoz de La Madrid . Aráoz was severely wounded and defeated , and Peñaloza ' s own wounds , as well as his role in the battle , earned him the rank of commanding Captain of the Militia . He fought in this capacity in the battles of Rincón de Valladares ( 1827 ) , La Tablada ( 1829 ) , and Oncativo ( 1830 ) . His defeats in the latter two , however , enabled the formation of the Unitarian League by José María Paz , against which the La Rioja forces were little match . Military leader of La Rioja . Peñaloza returned to La Rioja , and helped oust Aráoz de La Madrid ' s proxy , Governor Domingo Villafañe , in 1831 . Following Quiroga ' s 1836 assassination , Peñaloza secured an alliance with San Juan Province Governor Martín Yanzón , and though their attempted invasion of La Rioja failed , the victor , Tomás Brizuela , pardoned Peñaloza upon his election as governor in May 1837 . Peñaloza joined Brizuela , who was named commanding military officer in 1840 for the newly formed Northern Coalition . The group , an alliance of fellow Federalists opposed to the paramount Governor of Buenos Aires Province , Juan Manuel de Rosas , chose poorly in their alliances , supporting Juan Lavalle ' s failed revolt against Rosas , as well as their former foe , Aráoz de La Madrid , in a failed battle against a Rosas ally in Mendoza Province . Following these 1841 defeats , Peñaloza fled to Chile . He returned in 1842 to join his erstwhile ally from San Juan , Martín Yanzón . They were ultimately routed by San Juan Governor Nazario Benavídez , however , and Peñaloza again fled to Chile . He returned in 1845 , overthrew the Governor of La Rioja , formed an alliance with Benavídez , and installed Manuel Vicente Bustos as Governor of La Rioja in 1848 . Bustos named him commander of his home district , Los Llanos , and by 1854 , Peñaloza had regained his rank as commander of the La Rioja militia . Rosas had , by then , been defeated at the 1852 Battle of Caseros , and Peñaloza offered the new President of the Argentine Confederation , General Justo José de Urquiza , his support . Peñaloza became the effective ruler of La Rioja , becoming a " caudillo " , or strongman , in his province . He earned respect for his accessibility , diligence , and gaucho persona . Rebellion against the Unitarian government . The 1858 assassination of Nazario Benavídez , San Juan ' s Federalist governor , by Liberals allied to Buenos Aires centralists inflamed tensions between the Confederation and the State of Buenos Aires , and President Urquiza commissioned Peñaloza to seize control of San Juan , which the latter would administer on a receivership basis . The breakdown of the peace obtained at the Pact of San José de Flores in 1859 prompted Peñaloza to seek an alliance with Tucumán governor Celedonio Gutiérrez . The invasion of Bartolomé Mitre ' s Unitarian Party forces led to their retreat during 1861 and 1862 , culminating in a siege on the city of San Luis by Peñaloza ' s decimated troops . Peñaloza was deceived in the subsequent Treaty of La Banderita , receiving dead troops in exchange for prisoners of war . Resolute in his losing struggle , Peñaloza wrote to Mitre ( by then President of Argentina ) in March 1863 , to explain that : Peñaloza won victories in La Rioja and entered the city of Córdoba on June 14 , 1863 . His refusal to fight within city limits led to his defeat on June 28 , at Pajas Blancas . During the subsequent retreat , he was routed again in Los Gigantes , San Juan Province , by Colonel Pablo Irrazábal . Peñaloza retreated to La Rioja , and manage to depose a military junta installed during his absence . Confronted again by Irrazábal at Olta , he was defeated and on November 12 , surrendered , relinquishing a facón that remained as his only weapon . Irrazábal , however , killed Peñaloza with a tacuara spear , and his body was then riddled with gunfire . His severed head was displayed on a pike at Olta , and his wife , Victoria Romero , was forced into servitude , sweeping the streets of San Juan in chains . Legacy . Peñaloza represented barbarism to Domingo Sarmiento and a threat to national unity to Bartolomé Mitre . His supporters in the hinterland provinces , however , highlighted his role as a bulwark against what they saw as Buenos Aires hegemony over national affairs . Both celebrated and notorious in life , Peñaloza was commemorated by writer José Hernández , who wrote " Vida del Chacho " within weeks of Peñaloza ' s death , and by poet Olegario Víctor Andrade . His dagger was put on display at the La Rioja Historical Museum .