Pablo Morillo

Lieutenant-General Pablo Morillo y Morillo, Count of Cartagena and Marquess of La Puerta (5 May 1775 – 27 July 1837), known as El Pacificador (The Pacifier), was a Spanish military officer and colonial administrator who served in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars and Spanish American wars of independence. He fought against French forces in the Peninsular War, where he gained fame and rose to the rank of field marshal 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 VII 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 Marine Infantry and fought in the Battle of Cape St. Vincent and Battle of Trafalgar; both times he would be taken prisoner. After the outbreak of the Peninsular 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 Puente Sanpayo 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 expeditionary force of 60 ships and 10,000 men left Spain in early 1815, arriving in Venezuela in the spring of 1815. Morillo led a successful campaign to reconquer New Granada. His victory...