Brigadier Gral. Arthur SANDES, Procer

Brigadier General Arthur Sandes of Glenfiled County, Kerry (1793-1832)

Kerry, Ireland 1793 - Cuenca (Ecuador) 09-06-1832

Retired officer of the British Army that fought for the Independence of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. Officer in Colonel Campbells's Black Rifles. He achieved the military rank of Brigadier General. The second of six brothers, son of Henry Sandes, he enlisted in the British Army and was present at the Battle of Waterloo (1815). That same year, once the Peace Treaty was signed, he gave up the military career. He arrived in Angostura in July 1818 with the rank of Lieutenant, being part of a group of experienced officers that had been drafted in England during November 1817 to be part of a special «training» squad to prepare a Rifles Battalion in Venezuela. Once this first «Rifles Battalion» was organized in Venezuela (largely composed of the Indians living in the Missions of the Caroni River), he fought along side of it in the campaigns that followed thereafter: Apure, Campaña Libertadora de Nueva Granada at the beginning of 1819, and became its leader in May 1819 -when the top commander had to leave on a sick – leave. He accompanied Simon Bolivar in the said Campaign of Nueva Granada as the Rifles Battalion Commander. He saw service at the battle of Gameza (July 11th), Pantano de Vargas (July 25th), Boyaca (August 7th). He was wounded in Gameza, and in Boyaca he excelled in courage and valour. After the military action of Boyaca he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. During the course of 1820, he was at the Siege of Cartagena, his exemplary quality being highly commended once more. June 1821, he guided Rifles at the Battle of Carabobo, being promoted effective and live at the battlefield to the rank of Colonel. The Rifles Battalion took part later in the Southern Campaign of Colombia, against royalist Colonel Basilio Garcia. On 04-07-1822 after the battle of Bombona he was awarded the «Order of the Liberators» (Cruz de los Libertadores de Venezuela). Under Field Marshal Antonio Jose de Sucre he was at the following battles leading the «Auxiliary Division Calvary Unit»: Pasto (December 1822), Colpahuayco (December 1824), Ayacucho (December 1824). He was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General beginning of 1825, and shortly after he was relieved of his command of the Riffles Battalion by Colonel Trinidad Portocarrero. During the middle of 1826 he was sent to Lima leading the Vencedores Battalion, to assume command of the Division that was stationed there. He was loyal to Bolivar throughout the revolt that took place against the latter early in 1827, led by General Jose Maria Bustamante. For this, he was imprisoned, along with Generals such as Jacinto Lara and other high profile officers and sent back to Buenaventura and then to Bogota. In September 1827 Bolivar confers upon him the rank of « General Commanding Officer of the Guayaquil District ». He endured an attack by the Peruvians on November 1828, under this leadership post. He led the defensive strategy of the city, but in the end, he was forced to withdraw. In January 1829, Antonio Jose de Sucre conferred upon him the leadership of one of the two divisions that were to fight at the Battle of Tarqui (02-27-1829) , after which he went back to Guayaquil. A few months later he established himself in Cuenca, where he was assigned Department of Azuay as his protectorate, until the end of that year (1830). The rest of his life he lived in the service of this country (Ecuador), devoting most of his career to the Department of Public Instruction, where he had the duty of funding new schools. He was buried at the Carmelitas Mission of Cuenca, Ecuador in 1832.

As a personal token, it is said that Sandes and Sucre coveted the hand of the daughter of the Marquis of Solanda, a beautiful lady from Quito. With characteristic chivalry, the Venezuelan General declined to use his more senior rank to press his advantage over the Irish Colonel. The winner of a card game would propose to the girl, the loser would withdraw from the race. Sucre won and married his sweetheart but marital bliss proved fleeting: the Marshal of Ayacucho was assassinated in Berruecos in 1830. According to Lambert (1), Sandes never married, but Hasbrouck (2) tells us that 'some of his descendants were said to have been living in Venezuela as recently as 1911 ' (this is not necessarily a contradiction). Ecuador still remembers her adopted son. There is an Avenida Sandes in Cuenca and the Irishman's name is engraved on the monument at Portete de Tarqui.

Leyend has it that between 1819 and 1825 while he was in command of the armies of the south, he covered on foot or horseback 20,000 miles, almost enough to circle the Earth around the Equator once.

Ref: https://www.academia.edu/9029898/Arthur_Sandes_1793-1832_commander_...

(1) Lambert, Eric. ‘Arthur Sandes of Kerry’ in The Irish Sword Vol. 12, No. 47, 1975.

(2) Hasbrouck, Alfred. Foreign Legionnaires in the Liberation of Spanish South America . Columbia University Press, New York, United States, 1928

text by Pedro Luis Baldo D. April 23rd, 2019