Joaquim José Inácio , Viscount of Inhaúma Joaquim José Inácio , Viscount of Inhaúma ( 1 August 1808 – 8 March 1869 ) was a naval officer , politician and monarchist of the Empire of Brazil . He was born in the Kingdom of Portugal , and his family moved to Brazil two years later . After Brazilian independence in 1822 , Inhaúma enlisted in the armada ( navy ) of Brazil . Early in his career during the latter half of the 1820s , he participated in the subduing of secessionist rebellions : first the Confederation of the Equator , and then the Cisplatine War , which precipitated a long international armed conflict with the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata . Throughout the chaos that characterized the years when Emperor Dom Pedro II was a minor , Inhaúma remained loyal to the government . He helped quell a military mutiny in 1831 and was involved in suppressing some of the other rebellions that erupted during that troubled period . He saw action in the Sabinada between 1837 and 1838 , followed by the Ragamuffin War from 1840 until 1844 . In 1849 , after spending two years in Great Britain , Inhaúma was given command of the fleet that was instrumental in subduing the Praieira revolt , the last rebellion in imperial Brazil . During the 1850s , Inhaúma held a series of bureaucratic positions . He entered politics in 1861 as a member of the Conservative Party . He became a cabinet member and was given the position of navy minister . Inhaúma also became the first person to hold the Ministry of Agriculture portfolio , albeit briefly . The first professional firefighter corps in Brazil was formed during his tenure as agriculture minister . In late 1866 , Inhaúma was appointed commander - in - chief of the fleet engaged in the Paraguayan War . During the fighting , he achieved the rank of admiral , the highest in the Brazilian armada . He was also awarded a noble title , eventually being raised from baron to viscount . In 1868 , he was elected to the national legislature ' s lower house , but never assumed office . Although he successfully prosecuted his operations in the war against Paraguay , Inhaúma ' s leadership was encumbered by his hesitating and procrastinating behavior . While in command in the war zone , he became mentally exhausted and contracted an unknown disease . Seriously ill , Inhaúma returned to the national capital in early 1869 and died shortly thereafter . Although historical works have not given much coverage to Inhaúma , some historians regard him among the greatest of the Brazilian navy officers . Early life . Birth and education . Joaquim José Inácio was born in Lisbon , Kingdom of Portugal . Although the date on his birth certificate was 30 July 1808 , his mother claimed that the correct birthdate was two days later , on 1 August . He personally affirmed that the later date was accurate , as did his younger brother , who was his biographer . Regardless , some biographers , including Joaquim Manuel de Macedo and Carlos Guilherme Haring , have persisted in citing the date mistakenly entered on the birth certificate . Joaquim Inácio ' s parents were José Vitorino de Barros and Maria Isabel de Barros . In 1808 , the Portuguese Royal family moved to Brazil , then the largest and wealthiest colony of Portugal . Two years later , on 10 July 1810 , José de Barros arrived in the Brazilian capital , Rio de Janeiro . As a crew member of the frigate " D . Carlota " , he was charged with transporting what remained of the personal property of Prince Regent Dom João , later King Dom João VI to Brazil . José de Barros also brought his family on the voyage , including Joaquim Inácio , who was then one year and eight months old . Joaquim Inácio had an older sister named Maria and six younger siblings ( who were born after the arrival in Brazil ) , among them Bento José de Carvalho and Antônio José Vitorino de Barros . As was common at the time , Joaquim Inácio began his education at home and was later enrolled in " Seminário de São José " ( Saint Joseph School ) and after that , in " Seminário São Joaquim " ( Saint Joachim School ) , which became Pedro II School in 1837 . His teachers included Januário da Cunha Barbosa , who later became one of the leading figures in the Brazilian independence movement . Joaquim Inácio chose to follow his father , a naval officer who achieved the rank of second lieutenant , in his choice of a career . On 20 November 1822 at age 14 , Joaquim Inácio was admitted as " aspirante a guarda - marinha " ( aspiring midshipman or naval cadet ) at the Navy Academy . On 11 December 1823 , he graduated from the academy , majoring in mathematics , with the rank of " guarda - marinha " ( midshipman ) . As he had in previous studies at other schools , Joaquim Inácio proved to be a brilliant student . Among his colleagues at the academy was Francisco Manuel Barroso da Silva ( later Baron of Amazonas ) whom he befriended . Rebellions in north and south . When Prince Dom Pedro ( later Emperor Dom Pedro I ) , son and heir of King João VI , led the movement for the independence of Brazil , Joaquim Inácio was one of several Portuguese - born residents who sided with the Brazilian cause and joined the armada ( as the Brazilian Navy was called in the imperial era ) . On 16 January 1824 , he began his service aboard the " D . Pedro I " , a ship of the line and flagship of First Admiral Thomas Cochrane , Marquis of Maranhão . Joaquim Inácio did not fight in any battles , as the Portuguese enemy forces had surrendered by that time . His baptism of fire came a few months later with the advent of the Confederation of the Equator , a secessionist rebellion in Brazil ' s northeastern provinces . He was given the command of the cutter " Independente " and aided in the suppression of rebels in Rosário do Itapecuru , a village in the province of Maranhão . The rebellion was over by early 1825 , and on 25 February Joaquim Inácio was promoted to second lieutenant . In June 1825 , Joaquim Inácio traveled to Brazil ' s far south to quell a secessionist rebellion in the province of Cisplatina . The insurgents were aided by the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata ( later Argentina ) , which led to the Cisplatine War . Joaquim Inácio served as first officer aboard the patache " Pará " , which was stationed in Colônia de Sacramento ( present - day Colonia del Sacramento ) , the second most important town in Cisplatina . By late February 1826 , Sacramento was besieged by enemy forces . Joaquim Inácio was sent ashore and placed in charge of the " Santa Rita " battery , composed of sailors and cannons from the Brazilian ships . He took an active part in successfully repelling enemy attacks upon Sacramento on 7 February , 26 February and 14 March . On the night of 10 March 1826 and in the midst of the siege of Sacramento , Joaquim Inácio boarded a small , unarmed boat accompanied by a single army officer and passed unnoticed through a line of nineteen enemy ships under cover of darkness . He reached the main Brazilian fleet on the morning of the next day and requested assistance from Vice - Admiral Rodrigo José Ferreira Lobo , the commander - in - chief of the naval forces operating in the war . Joaquim Inácio returned to Sacramento two days later under heavy enemy fire along with three boats carrying supplies and arms . Although welcomed as a hero in the besieged town , he was passed over for a promotion . Disregard for this achievement was due to his lack of wealth and family connections , a burden which continued to thwart his career for years to come . Loss of Cisplatina . In February 1827 , Joaquim Inácio was transferred to the crew of the corvette " Duquesa de Goiás " , in which he was to take part in the invasion of Carmen de Patagones , a village in the northeast of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata that served as a port for corsairs . The " Duquesa de Goiás " sank during the expedition , killing several crew members . Joaquim Inácio insisted on being the last officer to leave the vessel . He was next given the command of the schooner " Constança " . The invasion of Carmen was a complete failure , and the Brazilian land forces were defeated and taken prisoner . On 7 March , while Joaquim Inácio awaited news of the invasion , the " Constança " and another schooner were surrounded by enemy vessels . After a desperate battle , he was taken captive after refusing to surrender . The Brazilian prisoners were placed together aboard a brig bound for Buenos Aires , capital of the United Provinces . They suffered severe hardship , starving and almost naked . Under the leadership of Joaquim Inácio , the Brazilians staged an uprising , took control of the ship and made prisoners of their captors . The ship successfully eluded two corvettes and one schooner - brig that had pursued them , and sailed on to Montevideo , capital of Cisplatina , which they reached in safety on 29 August 1827 . Despite Joaquim Inácio ' s daring rescue of Brazilian prisoners of war from both the invasion ' s land - based forces and from the two schooners , he was reprimanded by the commander - in - chief Vice - Admiral Rodrigo Pinto Guedes , Baron of Rio da Prata ( who had replaced Rodrigo Lobo ) for the loss of the " Constança " . Joaquim Inácio returned to Rio de Janeiro in October , his tour of duty having lasted three years . He was then sent back to Cisplatina aboard the frigate " Niterói " and in December he became the first officer of the barque " Grenfell " . On 17 February 1828 , he fought in the Battle of Quilmes . During the engagement , the Brazilian barque - brig ( three - masted barque ) " Vinte e nove de agosto " ran aground and was about to be boarded . Seeing this , Joaquim Inácio positioned the " Grenfell " near the threatened vessel and protected her until she could be freed by the rising tide . Both ships returned to the battle , which resulted in a Brazilian victory . Brazil ' s efforts in the war were ultimately in vain , as it eventually relinquished Cisplatina , which became the independent nation of Uruguay . In July 1829 , Joaquim Inácio again returned to Rio de Janeiro , and on 17 October he was promoted to first lieutenant . Rebellions . Further uprisings . On 17 March 1831 , Joaquim Inácio married Maria José de Mariz Sarmento . Her father was an officer in the Portuguese navy whose own father and paternal grandfather had also been military officers . Joaquim Inácio and his wife had several children : Ana Elisa de Mariz e Barros , Joaquim José Inácio , Antônio Carlos de Mariz e Barros and Carlota Adelaide de Mariz e Barros . The couple also had a girl and a boy , named Constança and Manuel respectively , both of whom died in infancy . A month and a half after Joaquim Inácio ' s marriage , Emperor Pedro I abdicated and sailed to Europe . Since the former emperor ' s son and heir Dom Pedro II was a minor , a regency was formed , and more than a decade of instability and turmoil ensued . On 6 October 1831 , navy artillerymen , held under suspicion of plotting a mutiny , escaped the " presiganga " ( prison ship ) in which they had been confined . Joaquim Inácio commanded the schooner " Jaguaripe " which , along with other vessels , had been guarding the prison ship . Seeing that the artillerymen had set sail for Rio de Janeiro , Joaquim Inácio and a few men took a boat to warn the city . They encountered musket fire from the artillerymen , who then changed course for the nearby Ilha das Cobras ( Island of the Snakes ) in the face of strong opposition from the mainland . They were defeated the next day when three columns of men from the Volunteer Soldier - Officers Battalion and Permanent Municipal Guard Corps invaded the island . In January 1833 , strong winds forced the old and poorly built " Jaguaripe " aground off Santa Marta beach in the southern province of Santa Catarina , where it sank . Joaquim Inácio was again the last to abandon ship . The entire crew was rescued , though he himself barely survived . Joaquim Inácio and his younger brother Bento José ( who was also a navy officer ) stayed afloat by holding onto a leather basket until reaching the shore . Afterward , Joaquim Inácio was court martialed and absolved of any wrongdoing . On 5 April 1833 , he was given command of the barque - brig " Vinte e nove de agosto " ( the same ship he had saved in 1828 ) and sailed to the province of Maranhão . The last time he had been in the province was in 1825 . He remained stationed in the provincial capital ( São Luís ) as chief of the port until his return to Rio de Janeiro on 30 December 1836 . He was transferred to the steam barque " Urânia " in 1837 and later , on 19 July of the same year , to the brig " Constança " ( a different vessel than the schooner he lost in 1827 ) . Joaquim Inácio departed Rio de Janeiro on 11 August 1837 for Salvador , capital of the province of Bahia . He had been charged with delivering the prisoner Bento Gonçalves ( leader of the rebellion known as the Ragamuffin War that had ravaged Rio Grande do Sul since 1835 ) to a military fortress . On 7 September 1837 , Joaquim Inácio was promoted to captain lieutenant . A couple of months later , the Sabinada rebellion erupted in Salvador . The rebels freed Bento Gonçalves , who escaped back to Rio Grande do Sul . Joaquim Inácio took part in the blockade of that city until the end of the rebellion in March 1838 . His lack of family connections and political influence again stymied his career in 1839 , when he was passed over for a well - deserved promotion . Restoration of order . On 23 July 1840 , Pedro II was declared of age and Joaquim Inácio was among the naval officers representing the armada in the delegation that greeted the young emperor . The rise of Pedro II to head the central government resulted in a slow , but steady , restoration of order in the country . On 17 December , Joaquim Inácio was named " inspetor do arsenal de marinha " ( inspector of the navy shipyard ) in Rio Grande , the second most important town in Rio Grande do Sul . The province was still troubled by the Ragamuffin rebellion . He led the sailors manning the trenches surrounding Rio Grande and fought the Ragamuffins when they attacked the town in July 1841 . The Ragamuffin menace was halted when the government dispatched field marshal ( present - day divisional general ) Luís Alves de Lima e Silva ( then Baron , later Duke of Caxias ) in 1842 . The Baron of Caxias had been the second in command of the Volunteer Soldier - Officers Battalion when it put down the mutiny of navy artillerymen in 1831 . He and Joaquim Inácio established a close , lifelong friendship . Joaquim Inácio was promoted to frigate captain on 15 March 1844 . Soon afterward , Joaquim Inácio was relieved of command , at his own request , after becoming ever more at odds with his superior . On 2 April 1845 , he was assigned command of the frigate " Constituição " and in October returned to Rio Grande do Sul , which by that time had been pacified . He escorted the Emperor during his tour of the Brazilian southern provinces . Pedro II was favorably impressed with the character of the ship ' s captain . Dark - haired and of average height , Joaquim Inácio was joyful and pleasant . He was also hard - working , intelligent and well - learned . In addition to his native Portuguese , he could also speak and write in Latin , English and French . In August 1846 , Joaquim Inácio sailed the " Constituição " to Devonport ( then - known as Plymouth Dock ) in the United Kingdom , where the ship was to undergo repairs . He paid a visit there to the elderly Thomas Cochrane , Marquis of Maranhão , who queried him regarding Brazil ' s state of affairs . Joaquim Inácio returned to Brazil in May 1847 and was assigned to bureaucratic tasks . In April 1848 , he was stationed , again at the helm of the " Constituição " , in Bahia province . Later that year , the Praieira revolt erupted in the nearby province of Pernambuco . In early November , Joaquim Inácio assumed the command of the fleet protecting Recife , capital of Pernambuco . He sent many of his sailors ashore to aid in the town ' s defense . Recife was attacked by rebels on 2 February 1849 . The insurgent attackers were defeated , and soon afterward the last rebellion of Brazil ' s imperial era came to an end . Joaquim Inácio , who fought in the streets with his men , later remarked : " It was not a battle , but a diabolical hunt from which I have escaped by miracle . " He was awarded with a promotion to captain of sea and war on 14 March . Bureaucratic positions and politics . Navy commissions . On 26 May 1850 , Joaquim Inácio was appointed inspector of the naval shipyard at Rio de Janeiro . He played no role in the Platine War that pitted the Empire against the Argentine Confederation ( the successor state of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata ) , which lasted from late 1851 until early 1852 . He spent that period in the capital overseeing the construction and repair of several sailing vessels and steamships for the Brazilian armada . He was promoted to chief of division ( modern - day rear admiral ) on 3 March 1852 . Throughout the 1850s , Joaquim Inácio was assigned to a succession of mostly bureaucratic positions . After being removed from the office of inspector on 8 November 1854 , eleven days later he was named captain of the port of Rio de Janeiro ( for both the city and province ) . From 1854 until 1860 , he was appointed a member of various navy boards that dealt with matters ranging from promotions and equipment purchases to war spoils and standardization of naval uniforms . On 2 November 1855 , Joaquim Inácio was named adjutant ( equivalent to adjutant general ) to the navy minister . On 2 December 1856 , he was promoted to chief of fleet ( modern vice admiral ) and made a " Fidalgo Cavaleiro da Casa Imperial " ( Knight Nobleman of the Imperial Household ) , which raised him to a position ranking above the members of chivalry orders and below the titled nobles ( barons , counts , etc . ) . Joaquim Inácio also became a member and vice - president of the naval council ( an advisory board ) on 24 July 1858 . As had also been the case with his predecessors , the rank of adjutant was seen by Joaquim Inácio as an embarrassment . Inside the armada administration , it denoted the most important office , as it was filled by an officer who acted as the navy minister ' s direct representative in the armada . Even so , the title of " adjutant " was itself perceived as demeaning . Joaquim Inácio later complained : " In what part of the world . . . does the navy minister have a general officer as an adjutant ? What is an adjutant , other than a young officer who transmits orders , and even messages , he receives from his chief ? " He concluded : " Thus the title of adjutant cannot encumber an officer who supervises the armada ' s discipline and answers for it " . His request to have the designation for the position changed to a more appropriate title was ignored . He also felt slighted that many of his proposals to the navy boards regarding improvements were not acted on , and on 21 November 1860 , he asked to be removed from all positions . Conservative politician . Freed from the demands of his former commissions , Joaquim Inácio spent his time translating Jean - Félicité - Théodore Ortolan ' s " Et Diplomatie De La Mer " ( The Diplomacy of the Sea ) from French into Portuguese . He was a cultured person whose penchants included poetry . He was also interested in plays and he was an elected member of the Dramatic Conservatory ( which sponsored the national theater ) from 8 June 1856 . Joaquim Inácio was very religious and he often mentioned God and Catholic saints in his letters . During the Paraguayan War in the late 1860s , upon learning that he was being mocked and criticized by the Paraguayans for his religious devotion , Joaquim Inácio merely replied : " Leave me my beliefs and let them call me whatever they want . " He was an enthusiastic member of the " Santa Casa de Misericórdia " ( Holy House of Mercy ) , a charitable organization in Rio de Janeiro . When the national capital was ravaged by yellow fever in 1854 , he went from door to door asking for donations to help the sick . Despite his staunch Catholicism , Joaquim Inácio became a freemason , joining the " Loja Integridade Maçônica " ( Freemasonry Integrity Lodge ) in 1828 . He eventually rose to the highest ranks of that lodge , becoming Deputy Grand Master in 1863 . He was also accorded membership in other Brazilian lodges , became an honorary member of Portuguese Freemasonry and was a representative of the Grand Orient de France in Brazil . Freemasonry opened new venues for Joaquim Inácio , providing him with connections and influence he had previously lacked and which were essential to advancing his political career . On 2 March 1861 , his friend Caxias , also a freemason and staunch Catholic , became prime minister . He invited Joaquim Inácio , who became a member of the Conservative Party , to assume the naval ministry ' s portfolio . It was commonplace in Brazil for high - ranking military officers to engage in politics . He served as the first head of the newly created Ministry of Agriculture , Commerce and Public Works from 2 March 1861 until 21 April . Although created by a decree of 1856 ( following a suggestion made by Joaquim Inácio in 1851 ) , the first professional firefighter corps in Brazil was effectively formed under his tenure at the head of the Ministry of Agriculture . The cabinet resigned on 24 May 1862 after losing its majority in the Chamber of Deputies ( the national legislature ' s lower house ) . Joaquim Inácio returned to his position on the naval council on 2 July and left that post when he became a member of the Supreme Military and Justice Council on 2 October 1864 . Paraguayan War . Commander - in - Chief . In December 1864 , the dictator of Paraguay , Francisco Solano López , ordered an invasion of the Brazilian province of Mato Grosso ( currently the state of Mato Grosso do Sul ) , triggering the Paraguayan War . Four months later , Paraguayan troops invaded Argentine territory in preparation for an attack on Rio Grande do Sul . The invasions resulted in an alliance between Brazil , Argentina and Uruguay . Following the resignation of Caxias ' s government in 1862 , successor cabinets were headed by the Progressive League , the rival of the Conservative Party . As a Conservative , Joaquim Inácio found himself largely sidelined . He humorously commented that the Progressives " have not lifted my excommunication by giving me a better ration of soup [ i . e . , any command of importance ] , thus I shall remain on a diet . " In October 1865 , Joaquim Inácio was sent to the north of Brazil , charged with recruiting volunteers , but soon resigned that commission and opted to devote his time to the Holy House of Mercy . The allies invaded Paraguay in April 1866 , but their advance by land was blocked by fortifications at Humaitá and naval forces faced the obstacle of entrenched defenses along the Paraguay River . The Progressive cabinet decided to create a unified command over Brazilian land and naval forces operating in Paraguay . It entrusted the command to Caxias , who in turn requested that Joaquim Inácio head the Brazilian fleet in Paraguay . On 22 December , Joaquim Inácio replaced his close friend Vice - Admiral Joaquim Marques Lisboa ( then - Baron and later Marquis of Tamandaré ) as fleet commander . For the sake of appearances , the new position was nominally " pro tempore " , since Tamandaré had virtually been forced to resign . On 5 February 1867 , Joaquim Inácio was promoted to vice - admiral ( equivalent to present - day squadron vice - admiral ) , and sixteen days later he was made permanent commander - in - chief . The allied objective was to encircle Humaitá and force its capitulation by siege . On 15 August 1867 , under heavy fire , Brazilian warships forced the passage of Curupayty , an outer line of defense of Humaitá . Joaquim Inácio commanded from the bridge of the ironclad " Brasil " , which engaged in the operation . Joaquim Inácio was afterwards awarded the noble title of " Barão de Inhaúma " ( Baron of Inhaúma ) on 27 September . The name came from Inhaúma , a region ( now a neighborhood ) near the city of Rio de Janeiro . His wife had grown up there , and he himself owned a coffee farm in the area . Those landowners , including the Baron of Inhaúma , who produced coffee ( the most valuable Brazilian export commodity ) were the wealthiest and most influential people in Brazil ' s southeast . They were owners of slaves , and many of them formed the core of the Conservative Party ( the ultraconservative wing called " saquarema " ) and were connected to each other through family and political ties . Operations on the Paraguay River . After Inhaúma had punched through the defenses at Curupayty , he encountered three large chains stretched across the river at Humaitá that prevented further progress upriver beyond the fortress . He anchored his ships in a cove that became known as " Porto Elisiário " ( Elisiário Port ) . For six months , the Brazilian warships remained stationed between Curupayty and Humaitá , bombarding both strongholds without causing any serious damage . The encirclement of Humaitá could not be completed until the Allies gained full control of the river . The Allied commander - in - chief , Argentine president Bartolomé Mitre , had pressed Inhaúma for months to execute that goal . The Brazilian had , however , developed second thoughts about the enterprise and procrastinated . He believed — unfairly — that Mitre would welcome the destruction of Brazil ' s warships , severely weakening the Empire militarily and geopolitically . There were other factors that prompted Inhaúma to have second thoughts . The level of the river had fallen and as the encirclement on land had not been completed , even " if the Brazilian ships did manage to get past the batteries they could well become stranded , with little or no fuel and possibly no supporting Allied troops on the banks " . Inhaúma also argued that the ironclads were too large and had limited manoeuvrability in the narrow channel at Humaitá , being better suited to seagoing operations than on a river . He preferred to wait for the shallow - draft monitors that were under construction in Rio de Janeiro . After a year in Paraguay , Inhaúma had also become ill with a lingering disease ( not positively identified , although malaria is suspected ) and had fallen into depression , becoming what historian Francisco Doratioto themed " no more than a ghost of an admiral " . By January 1868 Humaitá had been completely cut off from land reinforcement and the shallow - draft monitors had arrived . Both Inhaúma and his officers balked at putting the new vessels into action . It was Inhaúma ' s son - in - law , Captain of Sea and War Delfim Carlos de Carvalho ( soon Baron of Passagem ) who volunteered to lead a squadron . On 19 February , the Brazilian ironclads successfully made a passage up the Paraguay River under heavy fire , gaining full control of the river and thus isolating Humaitá from resupply by water . On 2 March 1868 , parties of Paraguayans in canoes camouflaged by foliage and brush boarded Brazilian ironclads anchored in Tayí . The imperiled vessels dispatched a boat to warn Inhaúma , who was aboard the flagship " Brasil " downriver at Elisiário Port . By the time he arrived , the Brazilians had locked themselves inside their ships and the Paraguayans had taken control of the decks . Inhaúma ordered the " Brasil " and two other vessels to open fire , decimating the Paraguayans and saving the ironclads . A day later he was raised from baron to viscount by Pedro II . On 25 July , the allies occupied Humaitá after the Paraguayans had abandoned it and retreated further upriver . Illness and death . Unknown to Inhaúma and only a few days before the fall of Humaitá , the Progressive cabinet in Rio de Janeiro had resigned following a political crisis . The Emperor called the Conservatives , under the leadership of Joaquim Rodrigues Torres , Viscount of Itaboraí , back into power on 16 July 1868 . During the Progressive administration , Inhaúma had developed a trusting friendship with the able , young Navy Minister Afonso Celso de Assis Figueiredo ( later Viscount of Ouro Preto ) . The return of the Conservatives resulted in Inhaúma ' s election to the Chamber of Deputies as a representative for the province of Amazonas , although he would never assume office . In the new political climate , Inhaúma was also considered a contender for a senatorial chair representing the province of Rio de Janeiro . Meanwhile , Caxias had organized an assault on the new Paraguayan defenses which López had thrown up along the Pikysyry , south of Asunción ( Paraguay ' s capital ) . This stream afforded a strong defensive position which was anchored by the Paraguay River and by the swampy jungle of the Chaco region . Caxias had a road cut through the supposedly impenetrable Chaco , located on the other side of the Paraguayan River where the Allied army was camped . The Brazilian ships carried the Allied troops across the river , where they moved over the road which had been finished in December . The Allied forces outflanked the Paraguayan lines and attacked from the rear . The combined allied forces annihilated the Paraguayan army and on 1 January 1869 Asunción was occupied . Inhaúma reached the Paraguayan national capital on 3 January 1869 , increasingly sick and depressed . He lamented in his private journal that the conflict " cannot be called a war but a killing of people , extermination of the Paraguayan nation . " Inhaúma temporarily transferred his command to his son - in - law , the Baron of Passagem , on 16 January . On 28 January , Inhaúma was officially discharged from that post and promoted to admiral , the highest rank in the armada . Having received permission from the Conservative cabinet to depart , he left for Rio de Janeiro on 8 February , arriving ten days later . Although welcomed " with the greatest demonstrations of enthusiasm " , Inhaúma was so weak that he had to be carried from the docks to his carriage . Alfredo d ' Escragnolle Taunay , Viscount of Taunay in his memoirs said that Pedro II , upon learning of Inhaúma ' s arrival , refused to pay a visit to him . It had become common for officers to claim sickness so that they could withdraw from the war . The Emperor soon realized that Inhaúma was indeed very ill and asked for daily updates on his condition . Inhaúma ' s health steadily deteriorated , and he died on 8 March at around 04 : 30 in the morning . According to historian Eugênio Vilhena de Morais , malaria was the cause of death . His coffin was placed in a carriage reserved for the funerals of members of the imperial family . It was escorted by three cavalry squadrons and followed by three hundred carriages , while onlookers crowded both sides of the streets along the procession ' s route . Tamandaré and the future Viscount of Ouro Preto were among the pallbearers . He was buried in the " São Francisco Xavier " cemetery ( popularly known as Caju Cemetery ) in Rio de Janeiro . Legacy . Soon after his death , the Viscount of Inhaúma was hailed as " one of the greatest figures of the Brazilian armada " in the Brazilian Senate . He was extremely popular in the armada and was fondly called " Uncle Joaquim " by his subordinates . The Brazilian navy ' s slang phrase , " " andar na Inácia " " , which meant to behave correctly , was derived from his name . Since 1870 , no comprehensive biography of Inhaúma has been published , even though he , according to Francisco Eduardo Alves de Almeira , " is , and always will be , important to the navy of Brazil for his example as a modest and dedicated chief . " The Inhaúma - class corvette , built in the 1980s and 1990s , was named after him . Despite the scant attention paid him in historical literature , there are some historians who share a highly positive view of Inhaúma . Américo Jacobina Lacombe said that he was " one of the greatest names in our [ Brazilian ] military history " . Max Justo Guedes regarded him among the greatest imperial navy officers , and Adolfo Lumans considered him one of the greatest navy officers in Brazilian history .