People

Bartolomé Mitre

Argentine president and allied commander in chief.

Life: 26 June 1821, Buenos Aires; 19 January 1906
Office: President of Argentina, 1862 to 1868
In the war: Allied commander in chief, under the 1865 treaty
In command at: Tuyutí and Curupayty (1866)
Later: Founded the newspaper La Nación in 1870

Under the Treaty of the Triple Alliance, the Argentine president was placed at the head of the allied armies. He was in command at Tuyutí, the great allied victory of May 1866, and at Curupayty, on 22 September, the worst allied defeat of the war; ten days earlier he had met López at Yataity Corá. Revolts in the provinces forced Mitre to return to Buenos Aires in February 1867. He came back to the front in July and gave up command for good in January 1868, after the death of Vice President Marcos Paz.

‡ Disputed.He is credited with the promise to be “in barracks in twenty-four hours, on campaign in a fortnight, in Asunción in three months”. The phrase circulates in different wordings and without a precise date.

Sources: “Bartolomé Mitre”, “Marcos Paz” and “Siege of Humaitá”, English Wikipedia; Última Hora, “Entretelones del teatro de la guerra”; Días de Historia, “Curupaytí: un fatal presentimiento”.

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