Pablo Morillo

Pablo Morillo y Morillo, Count of Cartagena and Marquess of La Puerta, a.k.a. ''El Pacificador'' (The Peace Maker) (5 May 1775 – 27 July 1837) was a Spanish military officer who fought in the Napoleonic Wars and in the Spanish American Independence Wars. He fought against French forces in the Peninsular War, where he gained fame rose to the ranks of Field Marshall for his valiant actions. After the restoration of the Spanish Monarchy, Morillo then regarded as one of the Spanish Army's most prestigious officers, was named by King Ferdinand VIII as commander-in-chief of the Expeditionary Army of Costa Firme with the goal to restore absolutism in Spain's possessions in the Americas.

Born to a peasant family in Fuentesecas, Spain, at the age of 16 he joined the Spanish Navy as part of the Spanish Marine Infantry where fought in the Battle of Cape St. Vincent and the Battle of Trafalgar where both times he would be taken prisoner. After the outbreak of the Pennisular War, Morillo left the Spanish Navy and joined the Spanish Army and fought at the Battle of Bailen under the command of General Castaños, he would also be present at the Battle of Vitoria. He rose through the ranks quickly during the war. His actions at the Battle of Puentesampayo won him fame, as he commanded an army that defeated Marshal Ney and forced the French army to evacuate Galicia.

After the end of the war, in 1814 Morillo was named Captain General of Venezuela and given command of an Expeditionary Army to defeat the rebellions in New Granada and Venezuela. This expeditonary force of 60 ships and 10,000 men left Spain in early 1815 arriving in Spring of 1815 to Venezuela. Morillo led a successful campaign to Reconquest New Granada, his victory at the Siege of Cartagena earned him the title of Count of Cartagena. He successfully reconquered New Granada in 1816 and ordered the execution of various independence leaders as well as the confiscation of their assets.

In 1817 he returned to Venezuela where Simon Bolivar had begun a new campaign to liberate Venezuela from Spanish rule. He fought Bolivar to a stalemate when he managed to best him at the Third Battle of La Puerta in 1818, where he was wounded and succsessfulily defended the capital, Caracas, from Boilvar's forces which earned him the title of Marquess of La Puerta. After the loss of New Granada in 1819, the war shifted and in 1820 Morillo signed an armistice with Bolivar and later also signed the treaty on "War Regularization." After repeated requests for retirement, Morillo was finally given royal approval and returned to Spain in 1821. After his service in the South America he was appointed Captain General of New Castille in May 1821, a position from which he resigned the following year. In 1832 he was appointed captain general of Galicia, a position he left for health reasons in 1835. He died in the French city of Baregés, where he had gone to take medicinal baths, on July 27, 1837. Provided by Wikipedia