COLONEL OLMOS, GENERAL LAVALLE AND HIS WIDOW

To the generosity of the people of Buenos Aires. (Text:) Juan Francisco Olmos was previously one of the defenders of freedom (...) he carried the remains of General Lavalle, to save them from being desecrated. He skinned his bones that he took with him to exile. Imprenta de la Tribuna, 15 Victoria street. (Buenos Aires. 1856)

Very rare. Quarto (34.7 x 20.2 cm), 1 h., V. in bl. Restored specimen. The work is exhibited framed.

This form clears open doubts about who had made the representations to the governor of Buenos Aires, Pastor Obligado, to save his life. In 1856, the Buenos Aires forces defeat a new Confederate invasion, under the command of General Jerónimo Costa. The governor had already ordered it, "All individuals titled chiefs who are part of the anarchist groups led by the leader Costa and are captured in arms, will be put to arms immediately (...)". And so it happened, with the exception of Olmos, remembered for the heroic gesture with the corpse of General Juan Lavalle, who died in Jujuy in 1841, as explained by Dolores C. de Lavalle.

Isidoro Ruiz Moreno wrote in his work "Argentine military campaigns", volume 3: "of the chiefs, the only one who saved his life was Colonel Olmos, at the behest of General Lavalle's daughter (...)". Aníbal José Maffeo, for his part, leaves the doubt installed, since his wife and daughter have the same name, although he favors the latter: "It is probable that whoever interceded for Olmos was the daughter of the great chief." (1) The form offered here confirms that the person responsible for that gesture was the widow of Lavalle.

Notes:

1. Aníbal José Maffeo: The hazardous life of Colonel Juan Francisco Olmos. In Fifth Conference on the History of Chascomús, July 2013, p. 17. (On the internet: www.academia.edu)

S.O.VIII-SIM