1812: Juan Jose Crespo y Castillo, Huanuco rebel
Add comment September 14th, 2020 Headsman
Peruvian revolutionary Juan Jose Crespo y Castillo was garroted on this date in 1812.
An advance shock of the coming Peruvian War of Independence, Crespo y Castillo came to the fore of an indigenous rebellion against Spanish dominion in the mountainous department of Huanuco.
This small — perhaps 1,500 rebels were involveed — rising broke out in February 1812 and lasted only a couple of months but testified to Peru’s ongoing current of native resistance.
Crespo y Castillo wasn’t a firebrand but a prosperous local Creole elite, a farmer and alderman of long standing. Beyond the common grievances of state abuses and corruption he acutely felt the injury imposed by trade tightening that devastated the value of his tobacco crops.
On February 22, 1812, Indians from several outlying towns marched on the town of Huanuco, putting the Spanish authorities to flight. Crespo y Castillo was elevated to the leadership of a small governing board for the rebellion, whose limited ambitions were marked by its slogan, Viva el rey, muera el mal gobierno.
By May, the whole thing had succumbed to the customary remedy of overwhelming counterattack plus clemency offer for the rank-and-file — among whom, of course, our man numbered not.
He was put to death at the Plaza Mayor of Huanoco, uttering the inspiring last words,
“Muero yo, pero mil se levantaran para ahorcar a los tiranos. Viva la libertad!”
(“I die, but a thousand will rise to hang the tyrants! Long live freedom!”)
On this day..
- 2014: Darfur rebels for killing Chinese oil workers - 2019
- 1568: Jan van Casembroot, Lord of Backerzele - 2018
- 1888: Alexander Goldenson, San Francisco obsessive - 2017
- 1979: Nur Muhammad Taraki, grandfather of the Afghan War - 2016
- 258: St. Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage - 2015
- 1814: Not William Beanes, anthem enabler - 2014
- 1459: Pietro di Campofregoso, former Doge of Genoa, stoned to death - 2013
- 1767: Elizabeth Brownrigg - 2012
- 1894: Enoch Davis, like a cur - 2011
- 2000: Cheng Kejie of the National People's Congress - 2010
- 1932: Paul Gorguloff, who assassinated the French President - 2009
- 2004: Mamoru Takuma, for the Osaka school massacre - 2008
Entry Filed under: 19th Century,Businessmen,Capital Punishment,Death Penalty,Execution,Famous Last Words,Garrote,History,Martyrs,Occupation and Colonialism,Peru,Power,Public Executions,Revolutionaries,Spain,Strangled,Treason
Tags: 1810s, 1812, first peoples, huanuco, imperialism, indigenous, september 14
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