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San Martin

San Martin was born in Yapeyu, in the Argentine province of Corrientes, beside the
mighty Uruguay river, on February 25th 1778.

His father was Don


Juan de San Martin
and his mother, Doña
Gregoria Matorras,

In 1786 he was transferred to Spain with his family, where he


studied in the Noble Seminary of Madrid and, in 1789, he
initiated his military career in the regiment of Murcia. he
served in the army of Spain during the wars against the
French and in 1808 he fought in the battle of Baylen against
Napoleon´s army.

In the city of Cadiz he met other South American officers and


joined the lodges that promoted the Independence. In 1811
he resigned to his military career in Spain and boarded the
sail ship George Canning from England to Buenos Aires, where
he arrived on March 9th 1812 accompanied by other friends.

The independent government of Buenos Aires accepted the


services of San Martin, in that same year he married Maria
Remedios de Escalada, that belonged to a distinguished
family of the country.
On February 3rd, 1813, the
Mounted Grenadiers fought
and won their first combat,
near the ravines of San
Lorenzo.

In January of 1814, San Martin took control of the North Army,


from the hands of its former general, Belgrano, that had
returned defeated from the Alto Peru -today the republic of
Bolivia-, and since then, they establish a long friendship.

A disease forced him to request license and obtained from the


government the nomination of Governor of the Cuyo province.
There he recovered and began to prepare an army to cross
the Andes.

In the year 1816 he sent a delegation to the congress that


met in Tucuman, with express orders to insist on the
declaration of independence. Because of his insistence, the
declaration of the independence from the rule of Spain of the
Provincias Unidas del Rio de la Plata -that was the primitive
name of what now is the Argentine Republic- was acclaimed in
that congress the 9 of July of that year.

From Mendoza he prepared an army. All the people


contributed with their work and goods to make the dangerous
expedition.

In January of 1817 the crossing


of the army began. They
crossed divided into two
columns by the passage of Los
Patos and the one of Uspallata,
and the two columns met in
Santa Rosa of the Andes.

On February 12, 1817 few days after the passage of the


Andes, the army, that was given the name "Army of the
Andes", wins the battle of Chacabuco and some days later, the
Liberator entered the city of Santiago de Chile. The Town hall
met the day 18th and designated San Martin Supreme
Director, but he resigned that honor and then general
Bernardo OHiggins was elected for the position.

On august 3rd , 1823 his wife died in Buenos


Aires. The 10th. of February of 1824, unhappy
by the civil wars in the Provincias Unidas del
Río de la Plata, he sailed to France with his
little daughter, Mercedes. There he lived until
his death, on august 17, 1850.

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