Jose de la Serna e Hinojosa (1770, Jerez de la Frontera, Spain—1832, Cadiz, Spain) was a Spanish general and colonial official. He was the last Spanish viceroy of Peru to exercise effective power (January 29, 1821 to December 1824).
Background
He entered the army at a young age and saw his first service (as a cadet) in the defense of Ceuta against the Moors in 1784. Later he saw service against the French in Catalonia (1795), against the British under Admiral Jose de Mazarredo (1797), and in the second siege of Saragossa (1809). In Saragossa he was captured and taken to France as a prisoner. He soon escaped.
Thereafter he traveled in Switzerland and the Orient, finally returning to Spain in 1811. In Spain he fought under Wellington in the Spanish War of Independence against the French, until the expulsion of the latter in 1813.
In command of Spanish forces in Alto Peru
In 1816, having risen to the rank of major general, he was appointed to take command of the Spanish forces in Peru battling the insurgents. He arrived in Callao on September 22, 1816 and proceeded directly to Alto Peru (now Bolivia). He took charge of the army in Cotagaita on November 12, 1816. Viceroy Joaquin de la Pezuela ordered Serna to attack Argentine insurgents in the province of Tucuman, but Serna opposed this plan, citing insufficient forces.
Serna had advanced as far as Salta when the Spanish were surprised by the appearance in February 1817 of Jose de San Martin's Army of the Andes in Chile. San Martin had made an arduous, 21-day crossing of the mountains from Argentina in the middle of winter. He conquered Chile, and Serna's army in Alto Peru was reduced to defensive warfare against various rebel groups in different parts of the country.
The coup against Pezuela
Relations with Viceroy Pezuela further deteriorated. (Pezuela was an absolutist and Serna a liberal.) Serna finally asked to be relieved so that he could retire to Spain. Permission was received in May 1819, and in September he resigned the command of the army to General Jose Canterac. He had partisans in Lima, and upon his arrival there they demonstrated in favor of his remaining in Peru to face the threatened invasion of San Martin from Chile. Pezuela agreed to promote Serna to lieutenant general and name him president of a council of war.
San Martin landed in Pisco, on September 8, 1820. Serna, through secret negotiations, was named commander-in-chief of the army gathered at Aznapuquio to protect the capital against San Martin's advance. He was ordered by the viceroy to march to Chancay.
On January 29, 1821, the principal officers of the camp, partisans of Serna, petitioned the viceroy to resign in favor of Serna. Pezuela refused, and ordered Serna to subdue the mutiny, but Serna claimed to be unable to do so. The viceroy turned over executive authority on the evening of the same day. Later, the results of this coup were recognized by Spain.
As viceroy of Peru
A Spanish commissioner, Captain Manuel Abreu, arrived in Lima while San Martin was threatening the capital. He brought orders to the viceroy to negotiate for a peaceful settlement. Serna sent him on to meet with San Martin. Negotiations did begin on May 3, 1821 at Punchauca, with representatives from both sides. The negotiations lasted until June 24, but brought no agreement. The stumbling block was independence. The insurgents demanded it, and Spain insisted on submission to the king. On June 25, hostilities began again.
Serna was forced to abandon the capital on July 6, 1821. San Martin entered the capital four days later, and was received by the common people with jubilation. On July 15, 1821 the Act of Independence of Peru was signed at the city hall in Lima.
Serna retired to Jauja, and later to Cusco. He brought with him the first printing press in Cusco, on which was published the famous newspaper El Depositario.
On August 24 Serna sent General Canterac with a force of 4,000 men to relieve Callao. Nevertheless, Callao was forced to surrender on September 19, 1821, due to lack of supplies. In Cusco dissension broke out in the Royalist army. General Olaneta refused obedience and maintained an independent Royalist force in Alto Peru.
Canterac was defeated on August 6, 1824 by Simon Bolivar at Junin. Serna was now resolved to risk everything to crush the revolt. He left Cuzco in October with a well-disciplined army of 10,000 infantry and 1,600 cavalry. He met the insurgent army in the mountain plain of Ayacucho on December 8, and the following day was totally defeated by General Antonio Jose de Sucre. Serna was wounded and taken prisoner. The Spanish army had 2,000 dead and wounded and lost 3,000 prisoners, with the remainder of the army entirely dispersed. General Canterac, the second in command, signed an honorable capitulation the next day, December 9, 1824. Serna, who on the date of the battle had been created conde de los Andes by King Ferdinand VII, was released soon afterward and sailed for Europe. In all but name, the Spanish Viceroyalty of Peru was at an end.
Return to Spain
In Spain, Serna was welcomed at court and his administration was approved. He was later named captain general of Granada. He died in 1832 in Cadiz.
The twentieth century Latin American revolutionary Che Guevara was among his collateral descendants.
References
Other pages about History of Peru
-1992 Peruvian constitutional crisis -2004 South American Summit -Acaray -Agricultural history of Peru -Alto de la Alianza -Amazonas in the Colonial Epoch -Apu Mallku -Aspero -Atacama border dispute -Barrios Altos massacre -Battle of Sipe-Sipe -Bolivar's War -Cenepa War -Chinchay Suyu -Colombia-Peru War -Cultural periods of Peru -Demographic history of Peru -Diego Fernandez -Diego Lopez de Zuniga y Velasco -Ecuadorian-Peruvian war -Expedicion Libertadora del Peru -Felipillo -Francisco Gil de Taboada -Francisco Pizarro -Fray Martin de Murua -Frecuencia Latina bombing -Gabriel de Aviles y del Fierro -Garci Manuel de Carbajal -Gonzalo Pizarro -Guaman Poma -Guayaquil conference -Hernando Pizarro -History of Lima -History of Peru -History of the Ecuadorian-Peruvian territorial dispute -History of the Incas -Huaca de la Luna -Inca Garcilaso de la Vega -Inca road system -Indigenous peoples in Peru -Inti Raymi -Japanese embassy hostage crisis -Jiskairumoko -Joaquin de la Pezuela -Jorge Basadre -Jose Antonio de Areche -Jose Baquijano -Jose Quinones Gonzales -Jose de la Mar -Jose de la Serna e Hinojosa -Juan de Saavedra -La Cantuta massacre -Lanzon -List of DNA tested mummies -List of Norte Chico sites -List of Prime Ministers of Peru -Lope Garcia de Castro -Maitland Plan -Manco Inca Yupanqui -Manuel Arredondo y Pelegrin -Maria Rostworowski -Mariano Felipe Paz Soldan -Mariano Ignacio Prado -Max Uhle -Mercurio Peruano -Movimiento Etnocacerista -Ollantaytambo -Operation Chavin de Huantar -Operation Condor -Paquisha War -Pascual de Andagoya -Pedro Cieza de Leon -Peru-Bolivian Confederation -Peruvian Ancient Cultures -Peruvian Inquisition -Peruvian War of Independence -Peruvian inti -Peruvian nuevo sol -Peruvian peseta -Peruvian prison massacres -Peruvian real -Peruvian sol -Qoriwayrachina -Raimondi Stela -Ransom Room -Repartimiento -Republic of North Peru -Republic of South Peru -Rio Protocol -Royal Audience of Quito -Shining Path -Simon Bolivar -Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire -Tacna-Arica compromise -Tacnazo -Tarata bombing -Teodoro de Croix -Third Council of Lima -Timeline of Peruvian history -Toribio Rodriguez de Mendoza -Toro Submarino -Treaty of Lima -Truth and Reconciliation Commission (Peru) -Tumi -Tunnels of San Antonio -Tupac Amaru -Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement -Upper Peru -Vilcabamba, Peru
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