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The Orinoco River and Angostura, Venezuela, in the Summer of 1819: The Narrative of a Maryland Naval Chaplain
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 December 2015
Extract
The distinction between privateering and piracy was blurring badly by the spring of 1819. The Spanish American revolutionaries, like their Anglo-American counterparts of four decades earlier, lacked a naval force able to challenge Spain's power while it was still en route to her vast American domains. Consequently it was only a question of time before the struggling republics hit upon the happy expedient of issuing letters of marque that authorized independent captains to war against Spain in their cause and under their auspices.
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- Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1967
References
1 Griffin, Charles C., The United States and the Disruption of the Spanish Empire, 1810–1822 (New York, 1937), pp. 99 ff.Google Scholar; Bealer, Lewis W., Los Corsarios de Buenos Aires, 1815–1821 (Buenos Aires, 1937), pp. 20–21.Google Scholar
2 According to Griffin, , The United States and the Disruption of the Spanish Empire, p. 105,Google Scholar the daring of the privateers brought them to within a few miles of Spanish ports, on the continent as well as in the Americas. See also Griffin, C.C., “Privateering from Baltimore during the Spanish American Wars of Independence,” Maryland Historical Magazine, 25 (March, 1940), 9.Google Scholar
3 Whitaker, Arthur P., The United States and the Independence of Latin America, 1800–1830 (New York, 1962), p. 291.Google Scholar
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6 For example, Niles’ Weekly Register, XVI (April 3 and 17, 1819), 112, 129–130; National Intelligencer, XX (July 3, 1819).
7 Bornholdt, Laura, Baltimore and Early Pan-Americanism: A Study in the Background of the Monroe Doctrine (Northampton, Mass., 1949), pp. 8–10 Google Scholar; Bierck, H.A. Jr., “Spoils, Soils, and Skinner,” Maryland Historical Magazine, 49 (March, 1954), 29.Google Scholar According to one estimate, at least 3,000 American citizens took part in the privateering cruises under the flag of Buenos Aires at one time or another.
8 Griffin, , The United States and the Disruption of the Spanish Empire, pp. 115 ff., 119–120, 246Google Scholar; Wilgus, A.C., “Spanish American Patriot Activity Along the Gulf Coast of the United States, 1811–1922,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly, 8 (April, 1925), 193–215.Google Scholar The solicitations of Corrêa Da Serra, Portuguese Minister to the United States (1816–1820), on behalf of his nation’s shipping to Brazil may also have helped to influence passage of United States neutrality legislation. See Agan, Joseph E., “Corrêa Da Serra,” The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 49 (January, 1925), 1–43.Google Scholar
9 Whitaker, , The United States and the Independence of Latin America, pp. 217–222.Google Scholar A summary of the neutrality and anti-piracy legislation of these years is contained in Wilgus, , “Spanish American Patriot Activity Along the Gulf Coast,” pp. 212–213.Google Scholar
10 Quoted in Griffin, , “Privateering from Baltimore,” p. 18.Google Scholar See also Mecham, J. Lloyd, A Survey of United States-Latin American Relations (Boston, 1965), pp. 32–33.Google Scholar
11 Quoted in Keen, Benjamin, David Curtis De Forest and the Revolution in Buenos Aires (New Haven, 1947), pp. 109–110.Google Scholar
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14 Mackensie, Alexander Slidell, The Life of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry (2 vols.; New York, 1840), II, 187–188.Google Scholar
15 The single, most comprehensive statement of the Administration’s Spanish American policy is Adams to Richard Rush, the United States ambassador to England, January 1, 1819, in Gatenbein, James W., ed., The Evolution of Our Latin-American Policy: A Documentary Record (New York, 1950), pp. 11–14.Google Scholar
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18 Adams, , Memoirs, 4, 367.Google Scholar See also John Quincy Adams, “Diary,” entries for May 8, 11, 15, 18, 19, and 20, 1819, in Microfilms of the Adams Papers (Boston, 1954), Reel 34 (January 1, 1819-March 20, 1821).
19 Quoted in Whitaker, , The United States and the Independence of Latin America, p. 291.Google Scholar See also Griffin, , The United States and the Disruption of the Spanish Empire, p. 255.Google Scholar
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21 Mackensie, , The Life of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, 2, 192.Google Scholar The John Adams displaced 544 tons, carried 28 guns, and belonged to the class of frigates second to those of the Constellation series. Built in Charleston in 1799, she suffered a desultory career until broken up in 1829. The curiously named Nonsuch was a Baltimore-built, 148-ton schooner mounting 14 guns, and was a privateer until purchased by the navy during the War of 1812. She was broken up in 1826. Chapelle, Howard I., The History of the American Sailing Navy (New York, 1949), pp. 161, 167, 245.Google Scholar
22 Niles’ Weekly Register, XVI (June 12 and 19, 1819), 272, 288.
23 The Biographical Cyclopedia of Representative Men of Maryland and the District of Columbia (Baltimore, 1879), pp. 261, 698.
24 Tilghman, Oswald, History of Talbot County, Maryland, 1661–1861 (2 vols.; Baltimore, 1915), I, 459–460.Google Scholar
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29 The National Intelligencer did not explain the source of the letter. Also, whether intentional or not, the letter was reprinted in its entirety in Hambleton’s home-county newspaper, Republican Star and General Advertiser (Easton, Md.), October 12, 1819, without identification of the author.
30 National Intelligencer, XX (September 29, 1819); Niles’ Weekly Register, XVII (October 2, 1819), 71.
31 Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States Concerning the Independence of Latin-American Nations (3 vols.; New York, 1925), II, 1178–1182.
32 Records of the Department of State, Journal of the Voyage of the USS Nonsuch up the Orinoco (National Archives, Microfilm, 1961, No. 83).
33 Unless otherwise noted, the italics here and elsewhere are mine.
34 The most comprehensive of Perry’s two biographers was his brother-in-law, Alexander Slidell Mackensie, who said that a chart of the Orinoco had been acquired at Barbados, an adequate one not having been available in the United States. Hambleton’s narrative, however, would seem to suggest otherwise, as indeed is made clear in the published version: “The coast was low and marshy, and the water too shallow to admit of landing. After exploring for thirty miles along shore, in search of the entrance of the river, the ship got under way and stood down about sixty miles.” National Intelligencer, XX (October 2, 1819). Mackensie, , The Life of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, 2, 197.Google Scholar
35 That is, the pilot obtained during the previous day.
36 A species of banana. Though the fruit is larger, it is less sweet and more starchy than the ordinary variety.
37 That is, cassava, the source of manioc.
38 The cabbage palm or palmetto.
39 “When in possession of Old Spain, sugar and coffee were extensively raised; but since the revolution, these valuable articles have been entirely abandond.” National Intelligencer, XX (October 2, 1819).
40 The muscovy duck, or musk duck, is native to the region from Mexico to Brazil, and is easily domesticated. The brant, or brand, goose is familiar in eastern North America.
41 “A piece of red paint they consider invaluable, and are in the habit of rouging pretty highly.” Italics are Hambleton’s. National Intelligencer, XX (October 2, 1819).
42 A British physician coursed the Orinoco two years earlier. He observed the same red-colored species of monkey along the banks, shot one, reported it weighed “about twenty or twenty-five pounds,” boiled it and ate it. Robinson, J.H., Journal of an Expedition 1400 Miles up the Orinoco and 300 Miles up the Arauca (London, 1822), p. 68.Google Scholar
43 Barrancas.
44 José Padilla, a mulatto, later to be the victorious naval commander in an engagement on Lake Maracaibo, July-August, 1823.
45 “His dress was a blue round jacket, red vest, two epaulettes, and pantaloons of the latest fashion. He lives in a small thatched house near the shore.” National Intelligencer, XX (October 2, 1819).
46 Los Castillos de Guayana, actually.
47 The curious presence of glass windows and a governor’s mansion is explained by the fact that Guayana, before the Revolution and during Spanish colonial times, was the government seat of Guayana province.
48 “In point of situation, I have never seen a handsomer place than Guyana: the land around it is well calculated for cultivation.” National Intelligencer, XX (October 2, 1819).
49 Probably San Felix, where the Caroni, a tributary, joins the Orinoco.
50 “[;] in short, our reception was flattering, as regarded both our national and individual feelings.” National Intelligencer, XX (October 2, 1819).
51 Actually New Granada, modern Colombia.
52 Santa Fé de Bogotá, Colombia.
53 The distance is exaggerated, doubtless because of the combination of the winding and bending of the river and the strong current brought on by the advent of the rainy season. The actual figure is closer to 200 miles.
54 “Angostura was once a town of great commerce and riches, but there has been a great falling off since it changed masters.” National Intelligencer, XX (October 2, 1819).
Contemporary estimates of Angostura’s population vary. Robinson, , Journal of an Expedition, pp. 79 ff.,Google ScholarPubMed thought it to be 5,000, while Chesterton, George L., A Narrative of Proceedings in Venezuela, in South America, in the Years 1819 and 1820 (London, 1820), p. 114, placed it at 6,000.Google Scholar
55 In his account of two years earlier, Robinson noted that Angostura (which is Ciudad Bolívar today) was sometimes called New Guayana by resident natives, and that the temperatures hovered between 88 and 96 degrees during the day and between 70 and 80 degrees during the night. Robinson, , Journal of an Expedition, pp. 79 ff.Google ScholarPubMed
56 “weakness” in the published version. National Intelligencer, XX (October 2,1819).
57 “Great jealousy exists between the Spaniards and English, which is kept alive by continual recrimination. We found the Europeans who had entered this service, universally disgusted with it: the officers had received $10 for a year’s services. Their ration consists of poor fresh beef, without salt, and a couple of biscuit[s]. Exposed in a sickly climate, without medicine or surgeons, many of these poor fellows go to an untimely grave. Few have money to produce the comforts of a sick bed, and many die literally of famine. We were acquainted with several Englishmen of the service, gentlemen, and men of education; they had been up the river with Bolívar but, in consequence of hard treatment, were obliged to come off without leave. Society in this country is in a most degraded state; they have no schools or public institutions, and the children are brought up in complete ignorance. There appears to be no distinction of rank; a general is often seen gambling at the same table with one of his common soldiers, on terms of perfect equality. Many Negroes hold commissions in the army.” Ibid.
58 “I am satisfied I could make a fortune on the banks of the Orinoco in a few years, small as my means are. Land that will produce sugar, coffee, cotton, tobacco and corn almost without cultivating, can be bought of government for a trifle. The climate is so mild, that the expense of feeding and clothing Negroes is small; and the profits of such an estate immense. I would not live here, however for several reasons. Government is too weak to protect its citizens; and, so long as this is the case, property will be insecure. The manners, customs and religion of the people are too widely different from ours.” Ibid.
59 Manuel Piar, who in fact was guilty of fomenting rivalry within the army and plotting against Bolívar, despite the letter’s several attempts at reconciliation. Piar, a brilliant mulatto from Margarita Island, by his relentless actions ultimately drove the Liberator to take a drastic step. See Morón, Guillermo, A History of Venezuela, trans. Street, John (New York, 1963), p. 126 Google Scholar; Mazur, Gerhard, Simón Bolívar (Albuquerque, 1948), pp. 305–310.Google Scholar The contrary view is taken by de Madariaga, Salvador, Bolívar (London, 1952), p. 303.Google Scholar A contemporary description of Piar’s execution by firing squad on October 16, 1817, is to be found in Robinson, , Journal of an Expedition, pp. 99–100.Google ScholarPubMed
60 Santiago Mariño.
61 According to Chesterton, , A Narrative of Proceedings in South America, p. 114,Google Scholar Soledad, though only a village of crude straw huts, was more popular with some officials at Angostura as a place of residence because, for reasons unknown to them, the fever was not so prevalent there. A marshland lay just west of Angostura.
62 Much the same personal observations of Mariño were made by Chesterton. Ibid., p. 97. At this point in the published letter, Hambleton, added, “He gave a ball in the evening: the Spaniards dance nothing but waltzes: the ladies acquit themselves with much grace. Few of them are handsome: but they have the finest eyes and teeth I have ever seen. In their manners they are not very refined, and make nothing of spitting on the floor, and smoking segars before gentlemen.” National Intelligencer, 20 (October 2, 1819).Google Scholar
63 Their names are listed in the Niles’ Weekly Register, XVII (October 2, 1819), 72.
64 This may not be far from the truth, as Chesterton, the Britisher who arrived at Angostura a month after the Perry mission departed and who himself contracted the fever, was told by residents that the fever was unusually prevalent that year.
65 The phrase “hides, tallow, jerk beef, etc.” is inserted in the National Intelligencer version, XX (October 2, 1819).
66 “Vessels are always sure of a freight: carrying mules is very profitable: a vessel of 100 tons will make a freight of 2,000 dollars to the West Indies, and accomplish the voyage in a few days.” Ibid.
67 “Flour will command $20 per barrel.” Ibid.
68 “… but no contract can be safely made with them: it would require too long to retail a cargo.” Ibid.
69 “The cattle are large, but notwithstanding their fine appearance, make the most wretched beef you can imagine; such as no one in the U. States would pretend to eat.” Ibid.
70 The llaneros (plainsmen, cowboys) of the Venezuelan llanos (plains).
71 The four gunboats under General Padilla, based at Barrancas.
72 Juan Germán Roscio, better remembered as one of the leading intellects of the Independence period, especially in the realm of political and juridical philosophy.
73 The “Mr. Hambleton” whose machinations on behalf of England and against the United States drew an explicit comment in the official report of the mission. See Charles O. Handy to the Navy Department, September 19, 1819, in Manning, William R., Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States Concerning the Independence of Latin-American Nations (3 vols.; New York, 1925), II, 1181.Google Scholar
74 Francisco de Paula Santander, the union of whose army with that of Bolívar, preparatory to an attack against Bogotá, was accomplished on June 11, 1819.
75 Pablo Morillo, the Royalist commander whose appearance in Venezuela and New Granada in May, 1815, at the head of a reinvigorated Spanish army, marked a new and more bitter phase in the struggle.
76 The same Santiago Mariño mentioned earlier.
77 Juan Bautista Arismendi.
78 A fisherman, according to Chesterton, , A Narrative of Proceedings in South America, p. 137.Google Scholar
79 Luís Brión, a native of Curaçao. His father had been a shipbuilder and had left his son considerable wealth and property, which he employed in purchasing naval craft and stores for the Independence movement.
80 Arismendi’s imprisonment in Angostura was brought about not by Brión but by General Urdaneta, acting apparently in accordance with Bolívar, whose orders Arismendi recently had repudiated. Vice President Zea, although cultured, polished, and highly educated, did not prove to be an effective leader, especially when Bolívar was away. Arismendi and Mariño were the principal figures in a scheme to oust Zea and substitute Arismendi, which, because it succeeded in mid-September, 1819, must have been afoot already during Perry's mission. Bolívar, however, restored the situation when he returned to Angostura in mid-December of the same year, following the battle of Boyacá. Mazur, , Simón Bolívar, pp. 398–399, 401.Google Scholar
81 Francisco Bermúdez.
82 This estimate agrees with that of Bolívar. Lecuna, Vicente and Bierck, H.A., eds., Selected Writings of Bolívar (2 vols.; New York, 1951), I, 218.Google Scholar
83 The objective of Bermúdez was Barcelona, not Cumaná. It was taken in midJuly, 1819, though some clumsy tactics enabled the Spanish garrison of 500 to escape into the night.
84 Manuel Cedeño.
85 Niles’ Weekly Register, XVI (August 28, 1819), 437, reported D’Evereux and 3,000 recruits had just departed Liverpool. Despite his fame, D’Evereux was of dubious ability and integrity. See Hasbrouck, Alfred, Foreign Legionaries in the Liberation of Spanish South America (New York, 1928), p. 188.Google Scholar
86 Rafael Urdaneta, of Maracaibo.
87 Carlos Soublette, of Spanish and French descent, a former schoolmaster, and one of Bolívar’s personal favorites.
88 Perhaps Pedro León Torres.
89 San Fernando de Apure, at the confluence of the Apure and Apurito. The Apure is one of the main tributaries of the Orinoco, emanating from the Colombian Andes.
90 José Antonio Páez, the fearless leader of the llaneros, and the dominant poetical force in Venezuela from 1830 to 1846, following the death of Bolívar.
91 Apure and Mérida were provinces of western Venezuela, while Casanare was a province of eastern New Granada.
92 Actually January, 1818; Lecuna, Vicente, Bolívar y el Arte Militar (New York, 1955), p. 91.Google Scholar
93 Miguel La Torre, one of the royalist General Morillo’s foremost lieutenants. The battle at La Cruz, in Barinas province, was indeed “sanguinary”—for the Spanish. Páez’s cavalry, called the Brave Ones of the Apure, so dominated their opponents that Páez actually retired what infantry he had from the scene of the battle. Graham, R.B. Cunninghame, José Antonio Páez, trad, Carreño, de Antonio (Caracas, 1959), pp. 145–146.Google Scholar See also Bolívar’s joyful comment on learning of this victory, in Lecuna, and Bierck, , Writings of Bolívar, 1, 198.Google Scholar
94 The allusion is to the impending battle of Boyacá, August 7, 1819. Although hardly decisive, this famous encounter turned the tide in favor of the revolutionists, for it effected the liberation of New Granada from Spanish rule, opened the resources of the region to the hard-pressed Venezuelans, and launched the short-lived union of the two republics as Gran Colombia, of which Santander was a Vice President.
Hambleton’s figures on troop strength are misleading. Santander’s division numbered between 1,000 and 1,200 men. Bolívar began his amazing march with about 2,100 men, of which perhaps, 1,800 completed or survived the climb over the Andes. The combined force was thus approximately 3,000. Barak, Rafael Maria and Díaz, Ramón, Resumen de la Historia de Venezuela (2 vols.; Paris, 1939), 1, 456.Google Scholar
95 Perhaps Pedro Zaraza.
96 José Tadeo Monagas, later a president of Venezuela and the dominant political leader between 1846 and 1861.
97 Mariano Montilla was a man of considerable wealth in pre-Revolution days and became acquainted with Bolívar when both lived in Paris. Chesterton, , A Narrative of Proceedings in South America, p. 142,Google Scholar found Montilla fluent in French but “frequently intoxicated before breakfast.”
98 Andrés Rojas.
99 Francisco Esteban Gómez.
100 José Antonio Anzoátegui. He died in September of 1819.
101 James T. English was directly under the command of General Urdaneta, operating out of Margarita Island. He died of yellow fever in late 1819, but his attractive wife stayed on in South America, eventually remarried, and became a personage of some importance in her own right. Pendle, George, “British Adventurers in the South American Wars of Independence,” History Today, 10 (April, 1960), pp. 274–280.Google Scholar
102 Estanislao Vergara was authorized to negotiate for a loan of three million dollars, but it appears he did not succeed. Saldarriaga, Roberto Botero, Francisco Antonio Zee (Botogá, 1945), p. 180 Google Scholar; Lecuna, and Bierck, , Writings of Bolívar, 1, 214.Google Scholar
103 General Padilla and Captain Antonio Díaz, at Barrancas.
104 Although not official, the figure is not uninteresting. As was the case in the North American independence movement, censuses were incomplete, muster rolls inaccurate, desertions regular and volunteering fitful, so that it is difficult to arrive at a comprehensive figure. Too, the size of the opposing armies in any given campaign was relatively small by modern standards, and it is doubtful if Bolívar ever commanded a force larger than 6,000 men during a specific encounter. Hasbrouck, , Foreign Legionaries, pp. 389 ff.Google Scholar
105 The modern state of Bolívar, of which Ciudad Bolívar (old Angostura) is the capital. Then, as now, it was the largest in territorial extent.
106 The territory encompassed in the modern-day states of Guarico, Aragua, Miranda, Carabobo, Cojedes, Portuguesa, and Lara.
107 Sacora was actually Socorro; Socorro and Tunja were adjacent provinces in New Granada, north of Bogotá. Tunja was occupied by Bolívar’s forces on August 5, 1819, thus indicating that news of the events of this day had reached Angostura prior to Perry’s departure. News of the Victory at Boyacá (August 7), however, apparently had not.
108 The modern states of Monagas and Sucre, combined.
109 The old province of Barcelona is today the state of Anzoátegui, while Barinas has retained its name though only half its original extent. Casanare, normally a division of New Granada, had been placed temporarily under the jurisdiction of Venezuela in 1818.
110 El Correo del Orinoco was less a newspaper than a government bulletin. Official decrees and political essays were its regular features. This famous publication, among the first in Spanish America, was founded in late 1817 and went through 128 numbers before it went out of existence in May, 1822, by which time the seat of government had moved to Caracas. Level, Lino Duarte y Correa, Luís, eds., La Doctrina de la Revolución Emancipadora en el Correo del Orinoco (Caracas, 1959), pp. 15–24.Google Scholar
111 The information that follows is preceded in the published letter by these lines: “There is no late news from the army. Bolivar is at present in Santa Fee. The last accounts from him represent his affairs in a prosperous state. His cause is gaining ground rapidly among the people. Morillo is cramped for money, clothing and all kinds of military stores. The patriots, however, acknowledge that they have no general who can compare with him in point of talents; and say it is astonishing how he has sustained the war so long without supplies from his government.” National Intelligencer, XX (October 2, 1819).
112 The earlier letter closes at this point.
113 Salter’s capacity on the mission is obscure. According to Cooper, James Fenimore, Lives of Distinguished American Naval Officers, 2, 224,Google Scholar Salter was simply a passenger. Turner had been a part of Perry’s Lake Erie command during the War of 1812, Handy had been Perry’s personal secretary, and both men were his personal friends. Mackensie, , The Life of Commodore Oliver Hazard Terry, 2, 192.Google Scholar
114 The British governor of Trinidad.
115 Perry’s body lay in Lapeyrouse Cemetery, Trinidad, until 1826, when it was reinterred at Newport, Rhode Island. Baker, Henry D., “Commodore Perry, An Interesting Sidelight on American History,” American Consular Bulletin, 6 (February, 1924), 65.Google Scholar Yellow fever was so little understood at this time that, according to Niles’ Weekly Register, XVII (October 2, 1819), 72, the festivities at Dr. Roscio’s house on August 14, even though they lasted but three hours, beginning at six p. m., “predisposed [him] to the disorder.”
116 Samuel D. Forsyth, who served as the interpreter in the discussions between Perry and Zea, and who returned to the United States with Perry’s mission. Forsyth was the principal in a subsequent diplomatic mission to Venezuela in 1820. Mackensie, , The Life of Commodore Oliver Hazard Terry, 2, 200–201, 217–218Google Scholar; Parks, E. Taylor, Colombia and the United States, 1765–1934 (Durham, N. C., 1935), pp. 84–85.Google Scholar
117 The word is unclear; it may read “glittering.”