José María Cabal Barona (Guadalajara de Buga, 25 May 1769 – Popayán, 19 August 1816) was a Neogranadine military and political leader who fought in the Colombian War of Independence.
Born in 1769 into a noble, landowning family, Cabal received his primary education at the Colegio Seminario de Popayán. In 1792, he moved to Santafé de Bogotá to study law. There, he became involved in literary circles that embraced the ideals of the Enlightenment. In 1794, Cabal was arrested for possessing translated copies of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen and was exiled to Spain. He was acquitted and traveled through Spain and then France, where he pursued his studies in botany and mineralogy, which became lifelong passions.
In 1809, Cabal returned to New Granada after 14 years abroad. He dedicated himself to agricultural pursuits and scientific studies until the revolution swept across New Granada, ushering in the Colombian War of Independence. In 1810, he was chosen as a delegate to represent his city in the provisional junta established to govern the province of Popayán and was one of the founding signatories of the Confederation of the Cities of the Cauca Valley. This involvement propelled Cabal into the forefront of the various military campaigns in southern New Granada.
He successfully defended the city of Popayán from a royalist attack in April 1812. That same year, Cabal was appointed president of the junta following the capture of the previous president, Joaquín de Caycedo, by royalist forces in battle. He participated in an expedition to rescue Caycedo, but this effort was thwarted at the Battle of Catambuco, resulting in the near-destruction of the patriot army. Only Cabal and a few other officers and soldiers managed to escape. He then assumed command of the beleaguered patriot forces in the south as they valiantly defended Popayán against the royalists. In 1813, he traveled to Santafé to request military assistance from the central government.
The central government dispatched an army led by Lieutenant General Antonio Nariño, launching Nariño's Southern Campaign to liberate the south from royalist control. Cabal was appointed commander of Nariño's vanguard, playing a crucial role in the victories at the Battles of Alto Palacé and Calibío. Recognizing his contributions, Nariño appointed Cabal as second-in-command of the army. Cabal continued his participation in the campaign, distinguishing himself in the Battles of Juanambu and Tacines. However, the campaign stalled at the Battle of Ejidos de Pasto due to tactical errors and miscommunication, leading to the defeat of the patriot army and the capture of General Nariño by royalist forces. Cabal assumed command of the remaining forces and skillfully withdrew them back to Popayán. Fearing a royalist counteroffensive, he ordered the troops to withdraw to the Cauca Valley.
In 1815, Cabal was promoted to Brigadier General and confirmed as commander of the Army of the South. He reorganized and retrained the army, bolstering its ranks with new recruits and reinforcements. Under his leadership, the patriot army inflicted a stunning defeat on the royalist army at the Battle of the Palo River in July 1815, after luring the royalists into their fortified positions on the north bank of the river. This victory forced the royalists to relinquish all the gains they had made during their counteroffensive in late 1814 and retreat to Pasto. Cabal recaptured Popayán shortly afterward and was preparing an offensive to retake Pasto when news arrived of the invasion of the Spanish Expeditionary Army in the northern part of the country. This forced him to postpone his plans and divert valuable resources and equipment to other parts of the country.
By 1816, the Neogranadine Republic was on the verge of collapse as the Spanish had achieved significant victories. Cabal's Army of the South was now encircled by the enemy. Skeptical of the prospects for success against a larger and more formidable foe, he proposed dispersing the army into guerrilla units to wage a protracted war of attrition. However, his officers and troops, yearning for a decisive confrontation, viewed his suggestion as overly cautious. Discouraged by the lack of support and weary of years of relentless warfare, Cabal resigned his post. He returned to his hacienda to await the inevitable.
Following the defeat of the last patriot armies, Cabal was captured by Spanish troops, transported to Popayán, and executed by firing squad. He is considered one of the heroes of the Colombian War of Independence, renowned by his contemporaries for his valor, courage, and intelligence.
Early years José María Cabal Barona was born on May 25, 1769, in his family's Hacienda "La Concepción del Alisal" near the town of Guadalajara de Buga in the Viceroyalty of New Granada in the Spanish Empire.Andrade A. Alberto (1973) José María Cabal: Prócer de la Independencia. Imprenta y Litografía de las Fuerzas Militares. Bogotá. p.30. He was the son of José Cayetano Cabal and María Teresa Barona, Cabal was baptized in the chapel of the hacienda where he was born and would spend his formative years there.Tascon, Tulio Enrique (1909). Biografía del general José María Cabal, prócer de la independencia. Bogotá: Imprenta de La Luz. p. 10.
In 1785, Cabal was sent to the city of Popayán to study at the Colegio Seminario de Popayán. During the next five years he studied philosophy and grammar, he was reportedly an excellent student and was heavily influenced by his teacher José Félix de Restrepo, among his classmates were other notable neogranadines, such as Camilo Torres, Francisco José de Caldas, and Francisco Antonio Zea who would later become important figures in the struggle for independence of Colombia.
In 1792 Cabal applied and was accepted to study at the Colegio Real y Seminario de San Bartolomé in the viceregal capital of Santa Fe de Bogotá. There he began his studies in law and would also form a close relation with his classmate Francisco Antonio Zea.
The relationship between the two was very close, with Cabal writing in a letter to his father "I must tell you that I owe a part of my intelligence due to Zea...".Andrade A. Alberto (1973) José María Cabal: Prócer de la Independencia. Imprenta y Litografía de las Fuerzas Militares. Bogotá. p. 54. Through Zea, Cabal became involved in literary circles in the city whose members were prominent creoles who followed the ideas of the enlightenment.
Arrest and exile In 1794, Cabal was arrested when members of his literary circle where found with translated copies of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen which had been translated by Antonio Nariño. Along with Nariño and Cabal other members were also arrested such as Zea and Frenchmen Luis De Rieux.Andrade A. Alberto (1973) José María Cabal: Prócer de la Independencia. Imprenta y Litografía de las Fuerzas Militares. Bogotá. p. 40. The accused where then promptly sentenced to exile for their crimes.Andrade A. Alberto (1973) José María Cabal: Prócer de la Independencia. Imprenta y Litografía de las Fuerzas Militares. Bogotá. p. 41.
Cabal and the other members that were arrested, left Santafé towards the end of 1795 and were transported to Cartagena de Indias where they were put on the Spanish Frigate Palas and departed the port on November 24. The prisoners then arrived to the port of Havana on December 7.Tascon, Tulio Enrique (1909). Biógrafía del general José María Cabal, prócer de la independencia. Bogotá: Imprenta de La Luz. p. 16. From there Cabal was then transported to Spain, upon arriving to the port of Cádiz he awaited a decision on his case by the judicial authorities. He was then subsequently absolved of his crime, after this decision Cabal traveled to Madrid where he began his studies in natural history and botanical studies which soon became his lifelong passion. In 1801 he received news of the death of his father, the following year he traveled to Paris, France.
Cabal remained in the French capital for the next seven years, where he continued his studies that he had begun in Spain, as well as learning mineralogy with the aims of returning to Spain and New Granada as part of the Spanish Royal Mining company. During his time there he met with other important Latin American figures who resided in the French capital some of whom later became influential figures in the struggle for Spanish American independence those being a young Simón Bolívar as well as Francisco de Miranda. In 1804, he married a French woman, Sophie Leclair, with whom he had a son named Augusto Maria.Andrade A. Alberto (1973) José María Cabal: Prócer de la Independencia. Imprenta y Litografía de las Fuerzas Militares. Bogotá. p. 42. In 1809 Cabal decided to return to New Granada as a result of the start of French invasion of Spain, but was unable to take his family with him as Spanish law saw their marriage as not valid as the French Republic had suspended Catholic marriages and was an atheist state, as a result under Spanish law Cabal was considered an adulterer.
After a long journey, Cabal returned to New Granada after being 14 years abroad, arriving in April 1809 at the port of Santa Marta, he then traveled to the capital of Santa Fe where he met with his former classmate Francisco Jose de Caldas, where he presented him with some new plants he had brought from Jamaica. He did not stay long in the capital, and returned to his family's hacienda in the Cauca Valley after having left there some 17 years ago.Andrade A. Alberto (1973) José María Cabal: Prócer de la Independencia. Imprenta y Litografía de las Fuerzas Militares. Bogotá. p. 43.
As result of his travels, Cabal had collected a large number of new plants that he introduced to New Granada, and dedicated himself to agricultural work and scientific studies for the time being. This would change soon after as revolution began to sweep through New Granada.
War of Independence Despite dedicating his time to tending to his hacienda as well as his studies in botany and mineralogy, Cabal soon became entangled in the unstable political situation that was developing in New Granada. In early 1810 the Spanish authorities had attempted to name him as mayor of the city of Buga, a position he refused to accept. That same year various cities in New Granada rose up in revolt and deposed the Spanish authorities in charge of them and replaced them with governing juntas that demanded more autonomy within the Spanish Empire. In the capital Santa Fe on July 20, 1810 a popular revolt ended up deposing Viceroy Antonio Amar y Borbón and replaced him with a governing junta. In the city of Cali a provisional junta was also established that was meant to represent all of the cities within the province of Popayán. Various delegates were sent to Cali to represent their respective cities, Cabal was chosen as a delegate representing the city of Caloto, where his family owned a large amount of land. This provisional junta would eventually form the Confederated Cities of the Cauca Valley, Cabal along with other delegates signed the act of its creation in 1811.