MartÃn Miguel de Güemes
Martín Miguel de Güemes ( born February 8, 1785 Salta, Argentina, † June 17, 1821, Cañada de la Horqueta, Salta Province, Argentina) was a general of the Argentine War of Independence.
Life and military importance
Güemes grew up as the scion of a wealthy family. His father, Gabriel de Güemes Montero de la Barcena Campero, was treasurer of the Spanish Crown and left his son a good education bestowed by private tutors. With 14 years went Martín Güemes to Buenos Aires, where he began his military career as a cadet of infantry. Already during the invasion of England in 1806 he committed himself to the awakening consciousness of independence on the Río de la Plata, and during the May Revolution of 1810, he served as deputy to the Argentine national hero Manuel Belgrano. He commanded a legendary Gauchoheer that in the Quebrada de Humahuaca (Jujuy province ) and in the valleys of Tarija and Lípez successfully against the Spanish and royalist troops fought. He played a pivotal role in the victorious battle for the revolutionaries of Suipacha; later, he also participated in the siege of Montevideo and repeatedly protected the northwestern provinces of Argentina with the help of the guerrilla tactics of his Gauchotruppen against incursions of the Spanish troops, who wanted to conquer the area. In 1815 was elected governor of the province of Salta and swore as such a year later on the independence of the so-called " Provincias Unidas del Río de la Plata " ( United Provinces of the Río de la Plata, an area which being the subsequent Argentina, Uruguay and parts of present-day Bolivia included ); However, due to internal disputes with the governor of Tucumán he lost support and fell in a surprise attack on Salta in an ambush of the Spanish troops. When an escape attempt on June 7, 1821 he was hit by an enemy bullet; ten days later he was in Cañada de la Horqueta die as a result of this injury. His remains were in 1822, buried by the then governor of Salta, José Ignacio de Gorriti in the cathedral of Salta.