title: 5.21- The Third Sister
author: Revolutions
contenttype: podcast
publication: Revolutions
published: 2016-12-04T18:55:31-05:00
sourceurl: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/revolutionspodcast/5.21-TheThirdSisterMaster.mp3?dest-id=159998
word_count: 4886
Hello, and welcome to Revolutions. Episode 5.21, The Third Sister. Okay so first of all the fundraiser is now closed. It went great and I cannot thank you guys all enough for the support. The show will go on because I think we can all agree that the show must go on. So if you've ordered a shirt or print the emails with tracking number should start showing up in your inbox any day now. But I do want to say that though merchandise sales are now closed, the five new appendices for the history of Rome will remain available at revolutionspodcast.com indefinitely. There's no reason to take them down. I have also elected to throw back up the five-sided cross which is a story I wrote a while back for the three day novel contest and then recorded as an audiobook and sold during the first fundraiser. It's a half-serious, half-saturical detective story about a mysterious muck-uffin with magical powers, three and a half hours of entertainment for only ten bucks. So you can still go to Revolutionspodcastfundraiser.com and get the history of Rome appendices or the five-sided cross while all the physical merchandise should be going in the mail any day now. Okay so getting back to it, we have straight a bit from Believer the past few episodes abandoning him after the victory at Carter Bobo so we could go down and snag Jose de San Martín and bring him up to Lima. So when last we left our intrepid liberator, it was October of 1821 and he had just accepted the presidency of the new Republic of Colombia. But if you will recall though he didn't really want the job and he left day-to-day administration of Colombia to vice president Santander who really did want the job. As much as Believer avoided civilian politics to keep his focus on military affairs, Santander embraced civilian politics and was happy to never have to fire a shot in anger ever again. The liberator and the man of laws were in that respect the perfect team. Believer running the army, Santander running the government. But their diverging responsibilities would soon lead to friction between the two men. As Believer would grow impatient with Santander's obsession with legal formalities while Santander would get exasperated with Believer's imperious demands. As soon as the two men formally took up their offices in October 1821, this friction began to reveal itself. Believer ordered Santander to dig up 5,000 men and appropriate arms and supplies and have them ready to march south out of Bogota as soon as possible. Now Santander did his best to accommodate the liberator but this was the beginning of a long running feud between them. With Believer constantly demanding more Colombian men, more Colombian arms and more Colombian money even as he himself marched further and further away from Colombia. But for the moment Believer's objective was still to make Colombia whole. To go evict the last remaining royalists from Colombian claim territory in some heroic battle, finding that third sister, joint boyacad and carobobo, to mark the liberation of Quito. So, Santander supplied Believer with an army. So to set the stage here, remember from our last few episodes that after Lord Conchren's naval victory secured the high seas for the Patriots in 1820, the critical port city of Guayaquil declared independence at the end of the year. As soon as he heard the news, Believer dispatched a thousand Colombian troops under Brigadier General Sucre to ensure that Guayaquil remained free from Spanish rule but more importantly that it was eventually integrated into Grand Colombia. So as Believer gathered his troops in Bogota at the end of 1821 to march off and liberate Quito, his plan was to lead his army to the coast. Ferry them all down to Guayaquil by sea, link up with Sucre, and then together they would all push up into the mountains together to capture Quito. And by early December, Believer had gathered about 4,000 men, not the 5,000 he had asked for, but it was deemed good enough. And on December the 13th, 1821, Believer marched out of Bogota. But his grand plan was thwarted by some bad intelligence. Our report came up from the coast that Spanish ships were landing more troops and controlled the entire coastline. But this was not true at all. Somebody just saw a single ship landing a small party of about 800 reinforcements and then wildly exaggerated what was going on. The false intelligence forced Believer to alter his plan. Commandening the seeroute, he would now march the rough mountain road southwest all the way to Quito, while sending orders down to Sucre in Guayaquil to come up and hit them from the other side. The only problem though was that royalist forces had pretty well bottled Sucre up in Guayaquil and he couldn't get out. And given the communications lag time between the two forces, neither Sucre nor Believer really knew what the other was doing. And it was more by luck than anything else that they managed the two front offensive on Quito. The change in plans meant yet another feat of patriotic endurance as the long march through the mountainous roads to Quito took months and took its toll. It cost Believer men to death, injury and desertion practically every day. But after slogging unhappily along for a few weeks, Believer finally got some good news. Approaching Popeillon, the first major royalist held city on the road to Quito, Believer was delighted to be presented with a note from the commander of the city's garrison. Not only was he ready to surrender, but he was willing to defect. So this is great news. Not only did Believer not have to fight to secure Popeillon, but he got a whole bunch more troops to boot. Suspecting that there was evidence of collapsing royalist morale and that that collapse of morale might be exploitable, Believer hatched what he thought was a pretty clever plan. As he marched towards Pasto, the next major city on the road to Quito, he wrote back to Vice President Sontan Der requesting that he compose fake news articles reporting that the Spanish were giving up hope on holding South America and then plant them in Bogotá newspapers. Believer also requested fake official communicates that would show the Spanish requesting safe passage for negotiators and then warm letters of greeting from both Vice President Sontan Der and General Paz back in Venezuela. And given the recent liberal revolution back in Spain, the idea that the Spanish might have dispatched and voiced to negotiate surrender was not at all implausible. And to when Believer reached the gates of Pasto, he had this stack of evidence supporting this fake story. But unfortunately, he found the royalist in Pasto far more hostile to the republic and not buying this propaganda for a second. Maybe it was true, maybe it wasn't, but they were not going to believe it until they heard it straight from the lion's mouth. So his ruse failed. Believer tried to keep marching rather than get bogged down to the siege in Pasto, but as he moved, 1200 royalists from the Pasto garrison marched out to block his path. In rough volcanic country riddled with steep cliffs, the two armies ran into each other at Bumbana in late April, where the royalist successfully took strategic high ground and waited for Believer to try to march through. Giving himself back to his old instincts, Believer decided that he could take the out numbered royalists on Easter Sunday, 1822. And he ordered his men on a full frontal assault up the steep cliffs to try to capture the high ground the royalist held. The results were predictably gruesome, as Believer's forces took heavy casualties. But one intrepid Patriot officer led a unit on a daring climb up a sheer cliff face to get the drop on the royalist. But even with this success, the fighting went on until night fell, and under the cover of both darkness and fog, the Pasto royalists elected to withdraw from their position rather than keep fighting. So technically, the Battle of Bumbana was a victory for Believer, but it was a purek one to be sure, costing him 600 dead and wounded to say nothing of the desertions that followed in the immediate aftermath. So despite claiming it as a victory, the Battle of Bumbana was obviously not the third sister Believer was hunting for him. And in fact, much to his later chagrin, it would turn out that he would not be the one to find that elusive third sister. And in fact, in the story of the liberation of Kito, the role of the liberator was to act as mere distraction, a distraction that allowed Antonio Jose Sookre to break out of Guayaquil and attack Kito from the other direction. And since it would be Sookre and not Believer who would find the third sister on the slopes of the Pichini Chivalcano, let's now finally bring Sookre onto the board. Antonio Jose de Sookre was born in the eastern Venezuelan city of Kumana in 1795. Descended from old Flemish nobility that had come over to Spanish America a century earlier, Sookre's grandfather has served as governor of both Cuba and Caracas, and the Sookre's father was the governor of Kumana province at the time of his birth. So though little Antonio was not Caracas aristocracy, he was born and raised in Kumana, he was still the son of the elite Criollo ruling class. As would have been standard for a boy of his position, he was enrolled in a military cadet academy as a young teenager, but this was right as the world was being turned upside down. I mean Sookre was only 12 when the abdication was a bion hit. So young Sookre remained enrolled in the army through the next few turbulent years, as the Caracas hunta took over in 1810 and then his venezuela declared independence in 1811. Stationed in the east as a junior officer though, Sookre does not appear to have seen much military service during the campaigns that had been led by Francisco de Miranda, and after the fall of the first republican 1812, Sookre appears to have just been amnestyed by the victorious Monteverde. Now from here I lose track of him a little bit because though we know that Sookre got papers that would allow him to depart for British Trinidad, it's not clear that he ever actually left. If he did go to Trinidad, that means that he linked up with Santiago Moreno there and probably joined the 45 who came back over into Venezuela to restart the war. But more probably, Sookre stayed in eastern Venezuela and simply joined Moreno's growing army when it arrived in early 1813. Whichever was up, he joined Moreno's army as it liberated the eastern provinces through 1813. This is as Bolivar is coming through on the admirable campaign, all of which culminated in the founding of the second republic. But after the founding of the second republic, Sookre's life took a tragic turn. As we saw in episode 5.11, when the legions of the hell pushed the republicans east, Sookre's homeland became a bloody war zone as the war to the death here was still in full swing. No one was spared, not civilian, not soldier, and most of Sookre's brothers and sisters and extended family were killed through the bloody year of 1814 as the second republic collapsed. Sookre himself only survived because he followed General Bermuda's to the relative safety of Margarita Island. But that turned out to only be a temporary safe haven, because Pablo Moreno's grand armada came roaring over the horizon in April 1815. In the last Venezuelan republic and holdouts on Margarita Island were forced to flee to Cartagena. This means that Sookre was present for Pablo Moreno's subsequent siege of Cartagena, and along with Bermuda's and the widely Scottish general Greger-Megreger, Sookre was among those who staged the final breakout from Cartagena in December 1815, and was among the Patriot refugees who then sailed further Republic of Haiti. In 1818 Sookre reunited with Marino, then was promoted to Colonel and became Marino's chief of staff. But this was also the first time Sookre encountered Believar, at least in close quarters, and though I do not know what they made of each other at first glance. By now Sookre had developed loyalties to a greater revolutionary cause that extended beyond the scope of Caudillo-style local power pursued by his longtime superior Marino. They all then sailed to Venezuela together, but as I mentioned in episode 5.14, when Marino started ignoring the orders of El Hefe Supremo Believar, Sookre was in the party of 30 officers who abandoned Marino and rode off to join Believar, signaling that his attachment to the revolutionary cause was greater than his attachment to any particular man. He'd commender of the lower Oranoko River. He was then elevated to general in 1819 by Vice President Seya, who was looking for men more committed to the greater revolutionary cause than any personal attachments. This is when Seya is trying and failing to exert authority over Marino and Otis Mendi, and he promoted the supremely capable Sookre to general, even though he was still just 25 years old. So Sookre was not present for Believar's march up into the Andes or the Battle of Boyacà, but he did meet Believar as the liberator came rushing back to Angostura to deal with the coup that had been orchestrated by Marino and Otis Mendi, this was all in episode 5.17. A Sookre had already earned Believar's affection when he abandoned Marino, but this is the point where it appears that he really started viewing Sookre as a potential heir apparent. Though young, Sookre showed wisdom beyond his years. His only fault really was a habit of micromanagement. He wanted to write every dispatch and review every supply shipment, but in the Ragnac Venizuille and armies that often seem slapped together with nothing more than pervato, a little micromanagement was not exactly a bad thing. So Sookre attached himself to Believar, and earned the liberator's trust to the point that Sookre was one of the principal go-betweens during the final negotiations with General Pablo Marino in 1820, and so he was there when they all got drunk and dropped the big rock down on the side of the road. And so when new subsequently came in January of 1821 that Guayaquil had revolted, there was no man Believar trusted more to head down to the city and defend it both from Spanish reconquest and more importantly to preserve it for future annexation into Colombia. There were very few men that Believar could trust out of sight, and Sookre proved to be the best of them, and Believar would later say that if God let you choose a family, that he would have chosen Sookre as his son. After finally arriving in Guayaquil in the spring of 1821, Sookre and his thousand troops proved to be a welcome addition to the cause. Mostly. The all-important port city was technically when the boundaries of the Viceroyalty of New Grenada had been for nearly a century and was thus slated for future integration into Gren Colombia. But before that they had been a part of the Viceroyalty of Peru, and Guayaquil's daily economic and social ties clearly faced south down the coast to Lima. Everyone passing through the harbor at Guayaquil was either going to or coming from Lima. So the population there was split about how they wanted to handle their independence. Most wanted to join themselves to Peru as soon as San Martín liberated it, while a few others did prefer Colombia, possibly suspecting that with their capital located in hard to reach Bogotá rather than right down the coast in Lima, that their local autonomy might actually be enhanced. So Sookre and his men were welcome. A thousand men is nothing you say no to, but the pro-Perovi in faction kept their eye on the young Colombian general. Sookre made an initial attempt to start clearing out the road to Quito in the summer of 1821, but he ran into such heavy resistance that he was forced to fall back to the safety of Guayaquil. In fact in Sookre's estimation without massive reinforcements, he was all but trapped in the city. And he wrote dispatches north to believe are and south to San Martín to tell both great generals just that. By this point though, San Martín had entered Lima and declared Peruvian independence, and after receiving Sookre's request for reinforcements he ordered 1200 men to march north. Now this was both the show of patriotic solidarity, but it also offered San Martín a chance to start staking his own claims to the region. With these men on the way Sookre then marched out of Guayaquil again in January of 1822, taking a circuitous route to Quito. Rather than heading north east straight at the capital, he instead headed to south, marching along the coast before turning and swinging up to the highland town of Saudaguda. There, he linked up with the 1200 Peruvian reinforcements led by the highly capable young Colonel Andrés Descentecruz. Ascentecruz is a minor player in R-story, but just so you know, he goes on to be president of Liberated Bolivia from 1829 to 1839, in the middle of which he also became the supreme protector of the Peru Bolivian Confederation from 1836 to 1839. That was during the war of the confederation that was fought against Chile and Argentina, because FYI, it's not like Spanish-American independence is going to magically solve all the factional struggles in South America. Anyway, Sookre and Sanctecruz prepared to march their combined army. Now of about 3000 men, through the mountains up to Quito from the deep south, rather than coming up at them from the coast. As Winter gave way to spring, Sookre and his army slowly advanced on Quito, forcing the all-but-nominal garrisons he encountered along the way, to fall back at the first sight of this Patriot army. And none of these garrisons could be reinforced because at the same time, Bolivar's army is marching down from Colombia and was predictably soaking up a lot of royalist attention. By late April 1822, Sookre had captured Rio Bomba and was making his final approach on Quito. The royalist leadership in the capital finally realized that Sookre posed a very real threat, and they heavily fortified the main roads leading into town. These fortifications were strong enough that Sookre determined a direct attack on the city would be suicidal. So rather than take the main roads, Sookre led his men up around through the treacherous volcanic peak around the city to flank Quito's defenses. It wasn't until mid-May that the royalist realized Sookre was marching around them through the mountains. They tried to regroup, but with one final push up and over all 10,000 icy feet of the great volcano at Pichinicha, Sookre's army came pouring down out of the mountains on the morning of May the 25th, 1822. Sookre's army was met by a royalist defense force about 2000 strong, and the two sides were instantly locked in an intense battle where neither side seemed to be able to get the upper hand, and they were both literally trying to get the upper hand, using the steep terrain to constantly take higher ground than the enemy currently held. Eventually after hours of fighting, the royalist lines collapsed back towards Quito just ahead of a formal order from their commanders to retreat. The Patriot forces pursued these retreating royalists all the way to the gates of the city, but Sookre ordered his men to not enter the city. He didn't want them charging in and plundering everything in sight because they were here to liberate Quito, not sack it. The next day, Sookre demanded the garrison commander of Quito's surrender, and now believing that it really was hopeless to hold out the commander surrendered. And so Sookre was able to lead his men peacefully into Quito. A savvy and generous man of honor, Sookre went out of his way to keep his troops on a tight leash so that their arrival would be celebrated by the residents and not resented. He also followed through with the terms of surrender he had worked out, after placing the surviving royalist troops in custody, any Spanish soldier who wanted to depart the country was free to depart with full military honors, although if anybody wanted to stay and defect to the Patriot cause of liberty and justice, etc., they were free to do so. Most of the soldiers elected to quit the country and go home, but more than a few walked across the lines. The fall of Quito was the great big domino the Patriots hoped it would be. The remaining royalist held cities in the region threw up their arms and said, forget it, we're done as soon as they heard the capital had been taken. Even the staunch holdouts in Pasto refused to just go down with the ship, and with believe are still lingering in the vicinity, they signaled their surrender. As was usually the case with believe are, he was thrilled and dismayed by all this. Thrilled for all the obvious reasons, you know, total victory and all that, but he was a little ticked off that his victory at Ombana was going to be overshadowed by sucre's victory at Picciniccia, that the glory for finding the third sister would go to sucre and not believe are, and he wrote a few dispatches back to Sontander trying to position the official story of the campaign as believe are being the victorious general. But to be fair to believe are, he would soon get over his disappointment. I mean, it was sucre after all who won the battle, and if he was going to share the glory with any man, it was sucre, who believe are quite literally loved like a son. And for his part, sucre went out of his way to not upstage the liberator, and always gave believe are full credit for the capture of Keto. He had no intention of playing Sala to believe are marious. And if you don't get that reference, boy, I have a book that will explain it all to you, forthcoming from public affairs press. On June 16th, 1822, believe are himself rode into Keto at the head of his remaining forces, and was greeted by thronging crowds of jubilant residents. sucre himself studiously kept out of the way and deferred all hails of liberator to believe are, soothing the generals admittedly fragile ego. Bringing Keto into the Columbian fold was a huge accomplishment, and one that would be celebrated without any hurt feelings amongst the senior commanders. What had been a ludicrous pipe dream back in Angostuda in 1817 when they first claimed that all of New Granada would be a part of Gran Colombia was now reality, and Gran Colombia was now whole. For believe are, the capture of Keto was the end of one chapter in his life and the beginning of another, and not just in terms of his revolutionary career, but also in his personal life. Since the death of the Pita Machado back in 1819, believe are, had been a matchler. Yes, there had been some drama in Bogota concerning a young woman who believe are fell for but who did not fall for him back, but other than that, he had been on his own. And that all changed on June 16th, 1822, because the Decevilpatory Ball held the night of his arrival in Keto. Simone Bolivar met Manuelas signs, changing both their lives forever. Manuelas signs was born out of wedlock in Keto in 1797. She was the daughter of a peninsula or a merchant and an unmarried Criollo woman. So like Granada, O'Higgins, Manuelas birth was a scandal. Deposited in an orphanage that specialized in such cases, the girl was raised in polite obscurity until her mother died when she was six years old. Now normally this would left her in complete obscurity, all on her own, but to the shock of his family, Manuelas father decided he was not going to abandon her. So without formally acknowledging paternity, he totally acknowledged paternity. He not only supported her financially but also routinely brought her around for any family function. So though Manuelas was an orphan, she grew to be a comfortable member of the local Criollo society. Though due to the circumstances of her birth, she would never be completely accepted. So Manuelas peculiar insider upbring mixed with a naturally percocious personality, to produce a young woman who was smart, self-confident, and did not give a damn about the conservative social and political values that had made her an embarrassment and gotten her mother shunned by her family just for the crime of giving Manuela life. By the time Manuela was a teenager, the wars of Spanish American independence were raging and she became a fire-breathing patriot. When she was 17, her father arranged for her to be married to a middle-aged English merchant named James Thorn who resided in Lima and who would become Manuelas' path out of the shadow of her orphan childhood. And though Thorn was in many ways for her a terrible match, he was a dull man of business set in his ways, neither spontaneous nor looking for a good time nor looking to upend the political order, but he was in other ways the perfect match. He did not try to contain his young wife's energy and while he traveled on business, he was happy to let her run the show back in Lima. A good bookkeeper and a persuasive negotiator and now mostly free to run her life as she saw fit, Manuela enjoyed an independent life in bustling Lima. Always a committed patriot, Manuela was thrilled at the arrival of General San Martín in 1821 and she became a fixture of patriot society after the liberation, so much so, that San Martín actually gave her a medal for her work supporting the cause. But when news came along a few months later that Quito was about to fall, she hurried back home to see what she could do to protect her father. An old peninsula set in his ways, her father was not going to survive the new South American order without help. With luck, Manuela would be able to shield him from patriotic retribution, which probably meant securing him safe passage back to Europe. So she arrived in Quito just ahead and at the celebratory ball on June 13th, 1822, the two laid eyes on each other for the first time. Falling for each other instantly, the 25-year-old Manuela and 38-year-old Believar embarked on a passionate love affair and whenever he could get away from official business, they were together. So much so, that it would eventually become more convenient to simply mix business and pleasure and Manuela would become not only his lover but an active partner in the future campaigns to liberate Peru and then the project to try to keep Grond Columbia together, as the thunderous cannons of war gave way to the silent long knives of politics. But for the moment Believar did not yet realize that he had a partner in Manuela and within a few weeks of arriving in Quito, Believar said, I have urgent business in Guayaquil and I have to leave. And it was urgent business. Believar had by now traded a further round of correspondence with General San Martín and it had not been pleasant. The protector of Peru had written the liberator and said, hey, congratulations for all your success, but don't even think about annexing Guayaquil to which Believar had replied, yeah, Guayaquil is totally a part of Columbia and I'm totally going to annex it. But Believar did further say, let's not do this by letter. You should come north. We should meet in person and one great general to another hash all this out. So by mid-July, staying in Quito was no longer an option. After extending the invitation to San Martín to come north, Believar had to get to Guayaquil before San Martín did. So despite the furious protests of Manuela, Believar rode down to the coast leaving her behind. And next week, Believar will indeed beat San Martín to Guayaquil, setting up a summit between the two great generals that would see one of them depart the revolutionary stage forever. Well, the holidays have come and gone once again, but if you've forgotten to get that special someone in your life a gift, well, Mint Mobile is extending their holiday offer of half-off unlimited wireless. So here's the idea. You get it now. You call it an early present for next year. What do you have to lose? Give it a try at minmobile.com slash switch.