Tuesday, March 28, 2006
13. Irish/German Mercenaries in Brazil, 1827-1828
Clancy ancestors on our mother's side
Irish and German Mercenary Soldiers' Revolt, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1828:
The Cisplatine War (1825-1828) between Brazil and Argentina over Cisplatina (now Uruguay), was not going well for either side. An Argentine land victory on the plains of Cisplatina was offset by Brazil's effective Rio de la Plata naval blockade.
Dom Pedro I, the Brazilian emperor, sent Colonel William Cotter back to Cotter's native South of Ireland to recruit Irish mercenary soldiers. Cotter arrived in early January 1827.
The Irish soldiers were to join the German mercenary soldiers already in training in Rio de Janeiro to fight alongside the Brazilian Army.
Mainly in County Cork and in County Waterford, advertisements were run in local newspapers, and notices were posted on numerous church doors. The Colonel promised free passage, free land, six shillings per day, and military training as local militia only.
Almost 3,000 mostly poor and illiterate people quickly volunteered to make the long and dangerous sea voyage. Some sold what little they owned to buy farm implements for their new life in Brazil.
Most apparently did not realize that they had been recruited to fight as mercenary soldiers.
The John Clancy family. They were from near Waterford in Ireland. John Clancy, and his wife Mary (or was it Elizabeth) Clancy, nee Ahearn, along with their two daughters, Nancy and Ellen, and a son, name unknown, were among the 2,700 souls who actually showed up on sailing day, and boarded one of the nine ships anchored in Cork Harbor.
The first ship sailed for Rio de Janeiro in August of 1827, and the rest of the fleet soon followed.
It was from newspaper interviews with Nancy Clancy on her birthdays in her latter years (she lived to be 95), that the hardships of their voyage came to light.
While at sea, the young Clancy son died of yellow fever. His body was used as bait to catch the shark that had been following the ship. The boy was removed from the shark's stomach and given a proper Christian burial. Afterwards the shark was divided up among the hungry passengers.
Then their ship was wrecked off Tenerife with the loss of more than half of the passengers. The replacement ship had to make an emergency stop on an island off the coast of South America, where only the hospitality of the local natives saved them from starvation.
The replacement ship reached Rio de Janeiro in late January 1828, when most of the other ships arrived.
Once ashore in Rio de Janeiro, the Irish were assigned to several barracks buildings. They complained of poor food, and of no replacement clothing for the sea voyage rags that had largely rotted off of them.
Some of the Irish simply refused to join the Brazilian Army, saying that they had been falsely recruited. Several hundred of these stubborn holdouts and their families were finally sent in March of 1828 to provincial Taperoa to farm.
Those who did join the Brazilian Army were subject to drilling under unpopular officers offset by endless hours of idleness. Relief, and trouble, were readily available to all the mercenaries at the local grog shops in the form of a cheap and powerful rumcalled cataxes.
Rio de Janeiro's black slaves and the Irish did not get along. Taunts of 'white slaves' when the Irish first landed esculated into individual fights, then large scale brawls, and finally, into murders by roving bands on both sides in the dark streets.
Unrest among both the Irish and the German mercenaries due to rough treatment, non-payment of wages, general misery, and rumors of going into battle soon, grew.
The similarly recruited German mercenary soldiers started the Great Mercenary Revolt on 9 June 1828. When one of their number received many lashes for a minor infraction, the Germans freed their comrade, and attacked the hated officer, who fled for his life.
Word of the German revolt quickly reached the Irish, and about 200 Irish joined. Weapons and liquor were seized.
Irish sources state that the homes of a few hated officers were looted and burned by maurading bands. Brazilian sources record that whole blocks of downtown Rio de Janeiro were razed.
By the second day it was realised that the available Brazilian troops in Rio de Janeiro were insufficent to quell the armed and drunk mobs. Black slaves, who needed no coaxing, and other citizens, were given arms and sent against the Irish.
The Irish and Germans were slowly pushed from the streets and back into their barracks, their best defensive positions.
The emperor requested and received help from the marines aboard British and French ships in the harbor. Not wanting to fight against them, many of the rebel barracks surrendered on the third day.
The final barrack was only taken by storm on the fourth morning with very heavy casualties on both sides.
The surviving mercenaries were rounded up. The Germans were sent to outlying provinces in the South.
At Brazil's expense, 1,400 of the 2,400 Irish who had arrived in January 1828 were sent back to Ireland in July 1828. They arrived home even poorer than when they had left.
The John Clancy family. The Clancy's sailed directly from Rio de Janeiro to Portland, Maine, in America. On the way they were shipwrecked and lost a child.
Another ship from Rio de Janeiro landed more than 200 Irish passengers at St. John in New Brunswich, Canada, and 32 of them made their way to St. Andrews in New Brunswick, Canada.
Some arrived with little more than the clothes on their backs, while others had money to spend.
The mutiny virtually destroyed two of Don Pedro's supposed best units, and ended his hopes for a land victory to augment his naval successful blockade. Brazil and Argentina both agreed to give up their stalemated war.
Dom Pedro ratified the peace treaty on 28 August 1828, and Uruguay became an independent buffer state between the two South American giants.
Bibliography, and Further Reading:
Armitage, John. The History of Brazil: From the Period of the Arrival of the Braganza Family in 1808 to the Abdication of Don Pedro the First in 1831. 2 Volumes. London: Smith, Elder, 1836.
Baldwin, C.J. "To the Editor of the New York Ev. Post" in New York Evening Post, 6 August 1828.
Basto, Fernando L.B. Ex-Combatentes Irlandeses em Taperoa. Rio de Janeiro: Editorial Vozes, 1971.
Bruce, Donald Roger. "Irish Mercenary Soldiers in Brazil, 1827-1828" in The Irish Link, Issue 3 (1998), pp. 30. Calogeras. Joāo Pandiá. A History of Brazil. Translated and edited by Percy Alvin Martin. New York: Russell & Russell, 1963.
"Dover Loses Oldest Resident: Mrs. Nancy Burns Had Passed 95th Milestone and Was Especially Active for Her Advanced Age". Foster's Daily Democrat, Dover, N.H. (12 December 1917).
Galogebas, Joao Pandia. A History of Brazil. New York: Russell & Russell, 1963.
Koebel, W.H. British Exploits in South America: A History of British Activities in Exploration, Military Adventure, Diplomacy, Science, and Trade in Latin America. New York: Century, 1917.
Macaulay, Neill. Dom Pedro: The Struggle for Liberty in Brazil and Portugal, 1798-1834. Durham, Duke University Press, 1986.
"Mrs. Burns 93 Years Old". Foster's Daily Democrat, Dover, N.H. (4 February 1915), pp. 1.
O'Maidin, Padraig. "An Irish Mutiny in Brazil and a Betrayal" in The Cork Examiner, 21 May 1981.
Rees, Ronald. Some Other Place than Here: St. Andrews and the Irish Emigrant. No location: New Ireland Press, 2000.
Von Allendorfer, Frederic. "An Irish Regiment in Brazil, 1826-1828" in The Irish Sword, Vol. III, No. 10 (Summer 1957), pp. 18-31.
Walsh, Robert. Notices of Brazil: in 1828 and 1829. 2 Volumes. Boston: Richardson, Lord & Holbrook, 1831.
Worcester, Donald E. Brazil: From Colony to World Power. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1973.
.
Irish and German Mercenary Soldiers' Revolt, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1828:
The Cisplatine War (1825-1828) between Brazil and Argentina over Cisplatina (now Uruguay), was not going well for either side. An Argentine land victory on the plains of Cisplatina was offset by Brazil's effective Rio de la Plata naval blockade.
Dom Pedro I, the Brazilian emperor, sent Colonel William Cotter back to Cotter's native South of Ireland to recruit Irish mercenary soldiers. Cotter arrived in early January 1827.
The Irish soldiers were to join the German mercenary soldiers already in training in Rio de Janeiro to fight alongside the Brazilian Army.
Mainly in County Cork and in County Waterford, advertisements were run in local newspapers, and notices were posted on numerous church doors. The Colonel promised free passage, free land, six shillings per day, and military training as local militia only.
Almost 3,000 mostly poor and illiterate people quickly volunteered to make the long and dangerous sea voyage. Some sold what little they owned to buy farm implements for their new life in Brazil.
Most apparently did not realize that they had been recruited to fight as mercenary soldiers.
The John Clancy family. They were from near Waterford in Ireland. John Clancy, and his wife Mary (or was it Elizabeth) Clancy, nee Ahearn, along with their two daughters, Nancy and Ellen, and a son, name unknown, were among the 2,700 souls who actually showed up on sailing day, and boarded one of the nine ships anchored in Cork Harbor.
The first ship sailed for Rio de Janeiro in August of 1827, and the rest of the fleet soon followed.
It was from newspaper interviews with Nancy Clancy on her birthdays in her latter years (she lived to be 95), that the hardships of their voyage came to light.
While at sea, the young Clancy son died of yellow fever. His body was used as bait to catch the shark that had been following the ship. The boy was removed from the shark's stomach and given a proper Christian burial. Afterwards the shark was divided up among the hungry passengers.
Then their ship was wrecked off Tenerife with the loss of more than half of the passengers. The replacement ship had to make an emergency stop on an island off the coast of South America, where only the hospitality of the local natives saved them from starvation.
The replacement ship reached Rio de Janeiro in late January 1828, when most of the other ships arrived.
Once ashore in Rio de Janeiro, the Irish were assigned to several barracks buildings. They complained of poor food, and of no replacement clothing for the sea voyage rags that had largely rotted off of them.
Some of the Irish simply refused to join the Brazilian Army, saying that they had been falsely recruited. Several hundred of these stubborn holdouts and their families were finally sent in March of 1828 to provincial Taperoa to farm.
Those who did join the Brazilian Army were subject to drilling under unpopular officers offset by endless hours of idleness. Relief, and trouble, were readily available to all the mercenaries at the local grog shops in the form of a cheap and powerful rumcalled cataxes.
Rio de Janeiro's black slaves and the Irish did not get along. Taunts of 'white slaves' when the Irish first landed esculated into individual fights, then large scale brawls, and finally, into murders by roving bands on both sides in the dark streets.
Unrest among both the Irish and the German mercenaries due to rough treatment, non-payment of wages, general misery, and rumors of going into battle soon, grew.
The similarly recruited German mercenary soldiers started the Great Mercenary Revolt on 9 June 1828. When one of their number received many lashes for a minor infraction, the Germans freed their comrade, and attacked the hated officer, who fled for his life.
Word of the German revolt quickly reached the Irish, and about 200 Irish joined. Weapons and liquor were seized.
Irish sources state that the homes of a few hated officers were looted and burned by maurading bands. Brazilian sources record that whole blocks of downtown Rio de Janeiro were razed.
By the second day it was realised that the available Brazilian troops in Rio de Janeiro were insufficent to quell the armed and drunk mobs. Black slaves, who needed no coaxing, and other citizens, were given arms and sent against the Irish.
The Irish and Germans were slowly pushed from the streets and back into their barracks, their best defensive positions.
The emperor requested and received help from the marines aboard British and French ships in the harbor. Not wanting to fight against them, many of the rebel barracks surrendered on the third day.
The final barrack was only taken by storm on the fourth morning with very heavy casualties on both sides.
The surviving mercenaries were rounded up. The Germans were sent to outlying provinces in the South.
At Brazil's expense, 1,400 of the 2,400 Irish who had arrived in January 1828 were sent back to Ireland in July 1828. They arrived home even poorer than when they had left.
The John Clancy family. The Clancy's sailed directly from Rio de Janeiro to Portland, Maine, in America. On the way they were shipwrecked and lost a child.
Another ship from Rio de Janeiro landed more than 200 Irish passengers at St. John in New Brunswich, Canada, and 32 of them made their way to St. Andrews in New Brunswick, Canada.
Some arrived with little more than the clothes on their backs, while others had money to spend.
The mutiny virtually destroyed two of Don Pedro's supposed best units, and ended his hopes for a land victory to augment his naval successful blockade. Brazil and Argentina both agreed to give up their stalemated war.
Dom Pedro ratified the peace treaty on 28 August 1828, and Uruguay became an independent buffer state between the two South American giants.
Bibliography, and Further Reading:
Armitage, John. The History of Brazil: From the Period of the Arrival of the Braganza Family in 1808 to the Abdication of Don Pedro the First in 1831. 2 Volumes. London: Smith, Elder, 1836.
Baldwin, C.J. "To the Editor of the New York Ev. Post" in New York Evening Post, 6 August 1828.
Basto, Fernando L.B. Ex-Combatentes Irlandeses em Taperoa. Rio de Janeiro: Editorial Vozes, 1971.
Bruce, Donald Roger. "Irish Mercenary Soldiers in Brazil, 1827-1828" in The Irish Link, Issue 3 (1998), pp. 30. Calogeras. Joāo Pandiá. A History of Brazil. Translated and edited by Percy Alvin Martin. New York: Russell & Russell, 1963.
"Dover Loses Oldest Resident: Mrs. Nancy Burns Had Passed 95th Milestone and Was Especially Active for Her Advanced Age". Foster's Daily Democrat, Dover, N.H. (12 December 1917).
Galogebas, Joao Pandia. A History of Brazil. New York: Russell & Russell, 1963.
Koebel, W.H. British Exploits in South America: A History of British Activities in Exploration, Military Adventure, Diplomacy, Science, and Trade in Latin America. New York: Century, 1917.
Macaulay, Neill. Dom Pedro: The Struggle for Liberty in Brazil and Portugal, 1798-1834. Durham, Duke University Press, 1986.
"Mrs. Burns 93 Years Old". Foster's Daily Democrat, Dover, N.H. (4 February 1915), pp. 1.
O'Maidin, Padraig. "An Irish Mutiny in Brazil and a Betrayal" in The Cork Examiner, 21 May 1981.
Rees, Ronald. Some Other Place than Here: St. Andrews and the Irish Emigrant. No location: New Ireland Press, 2000.
Von Allendorfer, Frederic. "An Irish Regiment in Brazil, 1826-1828" in The Irish Sword, Vol. III, No. 10 (Summer 1957), pp. 18-31.
Walsh, Robert. Notices of Brazil: in 1828 and 1829. 2 Volumes. Boston: Richardson, Lord & Holbrook, 1831.
Worcester, Donald E. Brazil: From Colony to World Power. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1973.
.
Comments:
<< Home
Hi, I'm an Anglo-Irish historian currently researching the story of the Irish mercenaries' uprising in Brazil. I was interested to read your blog, particularly given that you are a descendant of the Clancys who emigrated to Rio. Would you, by any chance, have a copy of Nancy Burn's obituary, which no longer seems to be available on the Internet? Best regards, Chris Burden
Yes, I do have the Nancy Clancy Burns obituary, as well as at least one other newspaper stories from a few years prior to her obit. Contact me at donbruce@nmia.com, and I will gladly share all my Clancy information with you.
I have the Nancy Clancy Burns obituary article and follow up articles for her funeral, etc., as well as several previous articles from when she was a media darling in Dover, New Hampshire. All theses are from Foster's Daily Democrat. I have her death certificate, too, and plenty more stuff.
Post a Comment
<< Home
