Admiral Joaquim Marques Lisboa, Marquis of Tamandaré (13 December 1807 – 20 March 1897)Porto-Alegre, Achylles. Homens Illustres do Rio Grande do Sul. Livraria Selbach, Porto Alegre, 1917. was a Brazilian admiral of the Imperial Brazilian Navy. He served in the Brazilian Navy for much of his life and was a member of Brazil's Military and Justice Council, later the Supreme Military Court, from its inception until 1891, when the Republican government granted him leave.
Tamandaré is regarded as a national military figure and patron of the Brazilian Navy. His birthday, 13 December, was chosen as Brazil's national Sailor's Day by Admiral Alexandrino de Alencar, a naval minister in the early 20th century, on 4 September 1925.
As a young lieutenant, Tamandaré took part in the Brazilian War of Independence, the repression of the Confederation of the Equator, and the Cisplatine War, also known as the "Argentine-Brazilian War" of 1825–1828, or, in Argentine and Uruguayan historiography, the Brazil War. He saw action during the Regency period, when the Empire faced widespread instability and regional uprisings, including the Cabanagem in Pará (1835–1838), the Sabinada in Bahia (1837–1839), the Ragamuffin War in Rio Grande do Sul (1835–1845), the Balaiada in Maranhão (1838–1839), and the Praieira in Pernambuco (1848–1849).
In regional conflicts, he participated in the Platine War (1851–1852) against Argentina's Juan Manuel de Rosas and later in the Paraguayan War as commander of Brazilian naval operations under the Treaty of the Triple Alliance, signed by Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina on 1 May 1865.
In the Río de la Plata Basin, Tamandaré led naval operations in the battles of Passo da Pátria, Curuzú, and Curupayty. After the Allied defeat at Curupayty, he blamed Argentina's Bartolomé Mitre, who commanded the Allied land forces at the battle. Tamandaré and his chief of staff, Francisco Barroso, later left the conflict and did not return to Paraguay. The war continued until Solano López was killed at the Battle of Cerro Corá and Paraguay surrendered.
Tamandaré remains a subject of study among military and civilian historians.Lima, José Francisco de (1982). Marquês de Tamandaré, Patrono da Marinha (Seu Perfil Histórico). Rio de Janeiro: Serviço de Documentação da Marinha. 45 páginas
Biography Joaquim Marques Lisboa was the son of Francisco Marques Lisboa, a Portuguese man born in Vila de Famalicão, in the province of Minho, in 1767, and Eufrásia Joaquina de Azevedo Lima, who was born in Viamão, Rio Grande do Sul. He was the tenth child of the couple. Among his siblings was Henrique Marques de Oliveira Lisboa, a lieutenant colonel who fought in the Ragamuffin War in Laguna, Rio Grande do Sul.
Francisco Marques Lisboa owned properties in Rio Grande and in the present-day municipality of São José do Norte, which is separated from Rio Grande by a canal connecting Lagoa dos Patos to the Atlantic Ocean. There has been debate over whether the future Admiral was born in Rio Grande or São José do Norte, with both places claiming to be his birthplace.Boiteux, Henrique, A República Catharinense - Notas para a sua história. Rio de Janeiro: Imprensa Naval, 1927. Página 6 No complete birth certificate is known, which has contributed to the dispute. In December 1883, Tamandaré addressed the Rio Grande city council and identified the city as his birthplace.
When he was five years old, he traveled to Rio de Janeiro, where he was cared for by his sister, Maria Eufrásia, and her husband, José Antônio Lisboa, until he completed his primary education at the school of Professor Carvalho. At the age of 13, accompanied by his parents, Joaquim returned to his native province on the same vessel that had taken him to Rio de Janeiro. In 1821, travelling alone on one of his father's sailing vessels, he returned to Rio de Janeiro to continue his education.
On 22 November 1822, at his father's insistence, Joaquim Lisboa agreed to serve as a volunteer in the squadron sent to fight Portuguese forces stationed in Bahia. On 4 March 1823, he began his career in the Imperial Navy as a volunteer aboard the frigate Niterói, under the command of John Taylor, The vessel flew Admiral Cochrane's flag.
José Marques Lisboa, his brother and a member of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, also acted on his behalf. He sent Cochrane a petition requesting attestation that Joaquim served voluntarily under his command. In the same year, he submitted a request to the director of the Imperial Navy Academy certifying the period during which Joaquim had attended studies in Rio de Janeiro, as well as his conduct and service. With these certificates, José Marques Lisboa sent an application to the emperor and Commander Taylor requesting Joaquim's formal promotion. On 2 December 1825, Joaquim Marques Lisboa was promoted. The need for qualified Brazilian officers to serve in the fleet in Montevideo gave him another opportunity, and on 26 January 1826 he was made a second lieutenant in the navy.
During that conflict, he took part in the escape of 95 Brazilians who had been captured after the battle of Carmen de Patagones. Marques Lisboa and Eyre managed to seize control of the Republic brig Ana, which was carrying them to Salado, and returned to Montevideo.A war betwixt Englishmen, Brazil Against Argentina on the River Plate 1825-1830, Brian Vale, 2000
He married Maria Eufrásia, his niece and childhood friend, who was close to him in age. The marriage took place on 19 February 1839, at Our Lady of Glory Church (Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Glória) in Rio de Janeiro.
After the Battle of Riachuelo, the number of wounded and disabled combatants arriving in the capital increased, creating the need for an asylum where they could receive treatment. Tamandaré's wife, the Viscountess of Tamandaré, helped organise fundraising activities, including auctions and other social events, to support this effort.
The title "Tamandaré" was derived from a village and harbour on the Pernambuco coast.AMORA, Paulo (1968). Vultos de dois regimes.(Coleção Civismo Brasileiro). Rio de Janeiro: Reper Editora In 1824, his older brother Manoel Marques Lisboa had taken up arms there for the Confederation of the Equator against the newly established Empire. Manoel died during the second imperial attempt to take control of the area. Decades later, during a visit by Emperor Dom Pedro II to the Pernambuco coast, Joaquim Lisboa asked to stop there and transfer his brother's remains to the family estate in Rio de Janeiro. Dom Pedro agreed and, reportedly moved by the gesture, later granted him the honorary title of Baron of Tamandaré.Fernandes, Juca (2010). Tamandaré: o príncipe dos mares. São Paulo: Empresa Brasileira de Infra-Estrutura Aeroportuária,. pp. 174p
During Tamandaré's lifetime, Brazil passed from Portuguese colonial rule to the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and Algarves, then to the Empire of Brazil in 1822, and finally to the republican period after 1889. Tamandaré played a role in several conflicts connected with the formation and consolidation of the Brazilian state.
Career
Early naval service and the War of Independence Tamandaré's career is often used as a way to understand the military and political history of 19th-century Brazil.
Throughout his military life, many episodes from his career acquired a legendary character. Several authors note that, despite his proximity to Emperor Dom Pedro II, Tamandaré did not hold political office, which was common among prominent military figures of the period. Instead, he acted primarily in the military sphere, serving the Empire in internal and external conflicts.
His introduction to naval life came during a solo journey to Rio de Janeiro aboard a vessel owned by his father's company, when he assisted the captain as a pilot. Political tensions at the time gave him the opportunity to enlist as a volunteer and begin his career in the National Navy, eventually rising to the highest rank in the naval hierarchy.
Political change accelerated in the Kingdom of Brazil after King João VI returned to Portugal, leaving his son, Regent Prince Dom Pedro, in Brazil to govern on behalf of the Portuguese crown. Dissatisfied with decisions made by the Lisbon Cortes, Pedro refused to obey them, contributing to the political separation that culminated in the proclamation of Brazilian independence. He was later crowned constitutional emperor and perpetual defender of Brazil as Dom Pedro I.
As a volunteer aboard the Niterói, Tamandaré took part in several naval engagements along the coast of Bahia. He had his baptism of fire on 4 May 1823, when the Brazilian fleet engaged enemy gunboats. Days later, he helped pursue fleeing Portuguese forces. The Niterói captured or disabled enemy ships and carried the imperial flag almost to the entrance of the Tagus River.
Confederation of the Equator and the Cisplatine War After returning from an important mission entrusted to the Niterói, Marques Lisboa enrolled at the Imperial Navy Academy in March 1824. Meanwhile, domestic events required the squadron's presence in different parts of the country to assert the authority of the central government. Still recovering from the War of Independence, some ships were sent to Pernambuco to suppress the revolution led by Manoel de Carvalho Pais de Andrade, whose objective was to unite several northeastern provinces, proclaim a republic, and establish the Confederation of the Equator. When Marques Lisboa learned that a naval division was heading north to suppress the revolutionary movement, he asked Admiral Cochrane for permission to board one of the ships in the division.
Francisco Vilela Barbosa, then Minister of the Navy, refused the request. Cochrane then appealed directly to the emperor, presenting the case for the young Joaquim. Convinced by Cochrane's arguments, the emperor issued an imperial resolution on 30 July 1824, naming the volunteer Joaquim Marques Lisboa to serve aboard the fleet's flagship, Pedro I. After the rebels were suppressed, the fleet remained in the region to prevent further revolutionary outbreaks. Marques Lisboa carefully carried out all the missions assigned to him.
Beginning in 1825, during the Cisplatine Campaign, the young Marques Lisboa served aboard the gunboat Leal Paulistana, under the command of First Lieutenant Antonio Carlos Ferreira. His service in the war began on 8 February 1826, in what became known as the Combat of Corals. Later that year, he returned to the Niterói under the command of James Norton. He distinguished himself in the subsequent fighting and, on 31 July 1826, was assigned command of the schooner Conga, his first naval command. He was only 18 years old at the time of his appointment.
After an unsuccessful land invasion of the village of Carmen de Pantagones, intended to control the entrance to the Río Negro, he returned to combat in the Río de la Plata estuary aboard the frigate Príncipe Imperial, the flagship of the naval division responsible for escorting a convoy of 18 merchant ships.
He was taken prisoner with 93 men. However, the Argentine captors did not anticipate the initiative of the young officer, who, together with his consort Constance, planned and carried out the seizure of the prison ship, the brig Anna. The escort accompanying them did not realise that the vessel had fallen into Brazilian hands until, in a daring manoeuvre, they set sail and fled to Montevideo.
He was promoted to first lieutenant on 12 October 1827. At the age of 20, he took command of the schooner Bela Maria. After engaging in an intense artillery battle with an Argentine ship and winning, he showed a humanitarian attitude toward the defeated enemy, earning him the recognition of the vanquished in 1828. After the end of the war, he spent another two years in the waters of the River Plate, and in 1831 he was sent back to Rio de Janeiro.
Regency period and rise through the ranks