Córdoba, José María (1799–1829)

José María Córdoba (also Córdova; b. 8 September 1799; d. 17 October 1829), Colombian military hero. Born in La Concepción, Antioquia, the son of the alcalde, Córdoba joined the patriots in 1814. His valor brought him a captaincy in 1817; he was named lieutenant colonel in 1819 and, after the battle of Boyacá (7 August 1819), commandant of Antioquia (1819–1820). He proceeded to eliminate royalist remnants from Chocó and the northern Cauca and Magdalena basins (1820–1821), and was promoted to colonel. He joined General Antonio José de Sucre Alcalá in Ecuador, distinguished himself at Pichincha (24 May 1822), and became a general (3 January 1823). In Peru, Córdoba went on to win further laurels. He led the Colombian infantry's decisive charge at Ayacucho (9 December 1824), the apex of his career.

Although Córdoba had killed one of his sergeants at Popayán on 28 December 1823, and had threatened the lives of two other subordinates in 1824, he was acquitted by a court-martial for murder and threats to murder (1827). Then he became engaged to Fanny Henderson, daughter of James Henderson, the British consul general in Bogotá. Although Córdoba was Bolívar's minister of war (1828), the two men became estranged over Bolívar's flirtation with monarchy. Falsely accused of disloyalty by Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera, he rebelled against the government and attempted to raise Antioquia. Wounded and a prisoner, with his little force routed, he was cut down at El Santuario by Colonel Rupert Hand.

See alsoWars of Independence: South America .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Pilar Moreno De Ángel, José María Córdova (1977); and "Córdoba, José María," in Historical Dictionary of the Spanish Empire, 1492–1975, edited by James S. Olson.

Additional Bibliography

Earle, Rebecca. Spain and the Independence of Colombia 1810–1825. Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 2000.

                                      J. LeÓn Helguera