JOSÉ DE LA SERNA: THE LAST VICEROY OF PERU - HISTORY - 2025

José de la Serna y Martínez de Hinojosa (1770-1832) was the last viceroy of Peru, a position he held between 1821 and 1824. That year his troops were defeated in Ayacucho by the independence forces led by Bolívar and Sucre. The result was the end of the viceroyalty and of Spanish colonial power in South America.

Before being posted to Peru, de la Serna had had an important career in the military. Thus, it deserved recognition for its role in the Spanish War of Independence. His fight against the Napoleonic troops was rewarded with the promotion to general in chief of the army of Upper Peru. There he obtained some relevant victories, such as the conquest of Salta in 1816.

Jose de la Serna

Upon hearing news of the defeat of the viceroyalty in Chile, the military left Upper Peru. At that time, San Martín, commanding his army, had crossed the Andes mountain range with the intention of making Peruvian territory independent. In 1821, before the bad situation of the royalist troops, Viceroy Pezuela was dismissed. His replacement was José de la Serna.

The advance of the independentistas forced the new viceroy to move the capital to Cuzco. There he was able to resist for a few years, but after the battle of Ayacucho, in 1824, he had no choice but to capitulate. With this defeat, Spain lost the Viceroyalty of Peru. De la Serna returned to the peninsula in 1825.

Early years

The future viceroy of Peru was born in the Spanish town of Jerez de la Frontera in 1770, into a wealthy family with good social and political relations.

From a very young age he devoted himself to a military career. In 1782 he moved to Segovia to train as a cadet at the Artillery Academy. Five years later he was promoted to artillery officer and at the age of only twenty he had a prominent role in the defense of the site of Ceuta.

In 1791 he fought with the army of Catalonia against French troops in the War of Roussillon. His role earned him a promotion again, this time to lieutenant.

His next assignment was as an artillery officer in the Navy. Curiously, on that occasion he was an ally of the French to fight the English.

Spanish War of Independence

The Napoleonic invasion of Spain and the arrival to the throne of José Bonaparte provoked a reaction from Spanish society. The faithful to Fernando VII organized the resistance around various government boards, some of which were able to gather troops to fight the invaders.

Fernando VII. Source: Francisco Goya

De la Serna was part of the army organized by the Junta de Valencia, with the position of lieutenant colonel. His first missions were the defense of Valencia and the battle of the Júcar river.

Later he was sent along with his unit to try to break the siege that the French maintained over Zaragoza. Despite his efforts, José de la Serna was captured and sent to France as a prisoner.

His captivity lasted until 1812, when he was able to escape from his prison. On his way to return to Spain he had to cross Switzerland, Bavaria, Austria, Bulgaria, Moldova and Macedonia, from where he arrived in Greece. There he embarked for Malta, first, and the Balearic Islands, later. Once he reached the peninsula, he was promoted to Colonel of Artillery.

Heading to Peru

De la Serna was appointed Marshal in 1815 and sent to Upper Peru with the position of General of the General Staff. Its mission was to end the independence rebellions that were happening in that area of ​​the viceroyalty.

With that purpose, he began several military campaigns in the high Peruvian territories. In that area, several guerrilla groups called republiquetas fought for independence with the support of the United Provinces of Río de la Plata.

Likewise, De la Serna conquered Jujuy and Salta and tried to reach Tucumán. However, the resistance presented by the gauchos of Güemes made it difficult to achieve that last objective.

The future viceroy at that time had more than seven thousand soldiers, divided into cavalry and infantry.

Discrepancies with the viceroy

The then viceroy of Peru, Joaquín de Pezuela, commissioned De la Serna in 1817 to try again to reach Tucumán. For this he had to use only the troops he had in Upper Peru. Pezuela's intention was for this advance to distract the army that San Martín was gathering in Mendoza to invade Chile.

At first, José de la Serna spoke out against that order. In his view, he did not have the resources to take that action. Furthermore, he considered that San Martín's troops were too far from Upper Peru for the strategy to take effect.

Finally, José de la Serna had to obey the order of the viceroy. The result was negative, as he had previously expected.

Health problems

The climate and diseases typical of the area had negatively affected José de la Serna's health. This, together with his differences with Pezuela, led him to request his transfer back to Spain. The viceroy rejected the request and De la Serna had to remain in Peru.

Liberating Expedition

On September 8, 1820, the Liberating Expedition commanded by José de San Martín landed in the Paracas Bay. The patriots established their headquarters in Pisco, where they had many supporters.

Jose de San Martin

Viceroy Pezuela, following orders from Spain, which was then in the so-called Liberal Triennium, organized a meeting with San Martín. The meeting took place in Miraflores, on September 25, 1820.

The viceroy's position was to ask San Martín to submit to the king and to swear in the liberal Constitution of 1812. The liberating leader, for his part, sought recognition of independence. These positions so far apart explain why the meeting ended without any agreement.

After that failure, San Martín gave the order to start a new military campaign in the Peruvian highlands. His plan was to add supporters and force the Spanish to take refuge in Lima. During this campaign, two royalist companies defected and joined the patriots, which was a severe blow to the viceroyalty.

Viceroy of Peru

By that time, the vast majority of the remaining Spanish leaders in Peru considered Pezuela's work as viceroy a disaster. The royalist military leaders, meeting in Aznapuquio, decided to dismiss him and appoint José de la Serna e Hinojosa in his place.

Thus, on January 29, 1821, José de la Serna became captain general and viceroy of Peru. The appointment was approved by the Spanish liberal government. On August 9, 1824, after Fernando VII reestablished the absolutist monarchy, the position was confirmed by the king.

Punchauca Conference

José de San Martín interview with Viceroy José de la Serna - Source: Juan Lepiani. Uploaded by: Fernando Murillo Gallegos under the Creative Commons License of Attribution / Share-Equal 3.0 Unported, 2.5 Generic, 2.0 Generic and 1.0 Generic.

José de la Serna called a new meeting with San Martín at the Punchauca estate. The meeting took place on June 2, 1821 and, as it had happened in Miraflores, it did not obtain positive results either.

On June 5 of that same year, De la Serna made the decision to leave Lima with his troops. While a unit, under the command of General José de la Mar, took refuge in Callao, the rest of the army went to Cuzco. There the new government of the viceroyalty was established.

San Martín took the opportunity to enter Lima without encountering any resistance. The patriot leader was received, on July 10, with joy by his supporters and with suspicion by the royalists. Five days later, the independence act of the Peruvian state was signed.

Work as viceroy

The situation of the viceroyalty made José de la Serna have to dedicate all his efforts to combat and not to govern. Despite this, he was responsible for installing the first printing press in Cuzco and for the publication of El Depositario, a newspaper that was very successful and had the collaboration of the viceroy himself.

De la Serna was able to hold out in Cuzco for three years, despite the fact that the promised reinforcements never arrived. The situation changed in 1824, when one of his generals rebelled against him.

After that betrayal, the troops of José de la Serna and Antonio José de Sucre faced each other in the battle of Ayacucho. The final victory went to the patriots and the viceroy was seriously injured. Once the capitulation was signed, José de la Serna left Peru and returned to Spain.

Back to Spain

Once recovered from the wounds suffered in Ayacucho, in January 1825 José de la Serna embarked on a French ship to reach Europe.

In Spain he had to appear in front of some military courts to give an account of his actions. All those courts agreed with De la Serna, who was even rewarded by the king with the title of Count of the Andes. Similarly, the former viceroy received a congratulatory letter from Simón Bolívar himself, in which he recognized his heroism.

José de la Serna died in June 1832 in the city of Cádiz, at the age of 62. The military and politician left no descendants. His former comrades in arms honored him at the funeral.

References

1. Royal Academy of History. José de la Serna and Martínez de Hinojosa. Obtained from dbe.rah.es
2. Ruiza, M., Fernández, T. and Tamaro, E. Biography of José de la Serna. Obtained from biografiasyvidas.com
3. Peruvian history. José de la Serna. Obtained from historiaperuana.pe
4. The Biography. Biography of José de la Serna y Martínez de Hinojosa (1770-1832). Retrieved from thebiography.us
5. Mariscal Trujillo, Antonio. The last Spanish Viceroy. Obtained from diariodejerez.es
6. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. Battle of Ayacucho. Retrieved from britannica.com
7. Dreckschmidt, Mike. Peru's War of Independence # 3: The Battles of Junín and Ayacucho. Obtained from livinginperu.com