Esteban Mestivier

{{Short description|Argentine soldier}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2026}} {{Infobox person | honorific_prefix = Major | name = José Francisco Esteban Mestivier | honorific_suffix = | native_name = Joseph François Etienne Mestivier | native_name_lang = French | image =  | alt = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date =  | birth_place = | disappeared_date =  | disappeared_place = | disappeared_status = | death_date = 1832 | death_place = Puerto Luis | death_cause = Murdered | body_discovered = | resting_place = Unknown | resting_place_coordinates =  | monuments = | other_names = | citizenship = | education = | alma_mater = | occupation = Soldier | years_active = | employer = | organization = | known_for = Argentine Military and Civil commander who was murdered in a mutiny | notable_works = | style = | height =  | television = | title = | term = | predecessor = | successor = | party = | movement = | opponents = | boards = | criminal_charge =  | criminal_penalty = | criminal_status = | spouse = Gertrudis Sanchez | partner =  | children = 1 | parents = | relatives = | callsign = | awards = | signature = | signature_alt = | signature_size = | module = | module2 = | module3 = | module4 = | module5 = | module6 = | website =  | footnotes = }}

'''Esteban Mestivier''' (died 1832) served as the Argentine Military and Civil commander in the Falkland Islands for a brief period in 1832. His appointment to the role was gazetted in the British and Argentine Packet News in September 1832. The announcement led to the British consul issuing a note of protest, which other than a brief acknowledgement from Argentina went unanswered. This combined with the USS ''Lexington'' raid of 1831, is considered to have prompted the British to send a small naval patrol to re-assert British sovereignty in the Falkland Islands.

Arriving in October 1832, he was murdered in a mutiny the following month. There are few reliably known details of his early life and even the exact circumstances of his death are unclear.

== Early life == [[File:Legajo de Esteban Mestivier.jpg|thumb|150px|Document naming Esteban Mestivier with the rank of brevet major by Juan Manuel de Rosas in 1829.]] There is very little known for certain about Mestivier's life. He was French-born<ref name="Pepper">Pepper, 2011, pp. 368–369</ref> but even his name is not known with certainty. The Argentine historian Paul Groussac (also of French origin) refers to him as Jean or Juan,<ref name="Pepper"/> but reflecting a custom of hispanicising Christian names he is generally referred to as Major Esteban Mestivier in Argentine literature.<ref name="Pepper"/>

There are records of Mestivier serving in the campaigns against the aboriginal people in the region around Bahia Blanca. This was at the time the southern boundary of the United Provinces of South America one of the precursor states of what is now Argentina. In the 7th Cavalry he served as a First Lieutenant, was promoted to captain in 1828 and to brevet major in 1829.<ref name="Pepper"/>

== Deployment to the Falklands == Following the USS ''Lexington'' raid of 1831, Luis Vernet refused to continue as military and civil commander in the Falkland Islands.<ref name="Cawkell3p61">Cawkell, 2001, pp. 61</ref> President Juan Rosas conferred upon Mestivier the appointment of interim military and civil commander on 10 September 1832. This was subsequently confirmed by being gazetted in the British and Argentine Packet News on 15 September 1832.<ref name="Pepper"/> The announcement provoked a protest from the British minister in Buenos Aires, Henry Fox, on 28 September 1832,<ref name="Pepper"/> which like the protests of 1829 against Vernet's appointment,<ref name="Shuttleworth1910">{{cite book|author=Nina L. Kay Shuttleworth|title=A Life of Sir Woodbine Parish: (1796–1882)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=48M0nQEACAAJ|year=1910|publisher=W. Clowes and Sons|page=360}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=British and Foreign State Papers|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_L9gMAQAAIAAJ|year=1836|publisher=H.M. Stationery Office|page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_L9gMAQAAIAAJ/page/n482 346]}}</ref> went unanswered apart from a brief acknowledgement. This, combined with the ''Lexington'' raid of 1831 prompted the British to send a naval patrol to re-assert sovereignty over the Falkland Islands.<ref name="Cawkell3p59">Cawkell, 2001, pp. 59</ref>

On 23 September 1832, Mestivier departed on board the ARA ''Sarandi'' commanded by Major Pinedo, accompanied by his pregnant wife<ref name="Pepper"/> and a garrison of 25 men together with their wives and children. This small garrison included criminals released from prison to serve in the army.<ref name="Pepper"/> Some of Vernet's men also took passage including William Dickson and Henry Metcalfe, Vernet's deputy Matthew Brisbane acted in the capacity of pilot for the ''Sarandi''.<ref name="Pepper"/>

On 10 October 1832, Mestivier performed a ceremony formally claiming the islands for the United Provinces.<ref name="Pepper"/>

== Death == Mestivier was a harsh disciplinarian, which resulted in a mutiny against his authority.<ref name="Strange1972">{{cite book|author=Ian J. Strange|title=The Falkland Islands|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rskZAAAAYAAJ|year=1983|publisher=David and Charles|isbn=978-0-8117-1961-2|page=59|chapter=3}}</ref> The exact circumstances of Mestivier's death are not certain.<ref name="Pepper"/> What is known is that on 21 November 1832, the ''Sarandi'' departed on patrol and on 30 November 1832 Mestivier was shot and then bayoneted to death by four of the mutineers.<ref name="Pepper"/> The historian Antonio Lastra indicates a couple who ran the bar were also murdered.<ref name="Pepper"/> The mutineers then stole horses and fled. Mestivier was buried immediately but his grave was not marked.<ref name="Pepper"/>

== Aftermath == Adjutant Juan Antonio Gomila, Mestivier's second-in-command, moved into the house and announced he proposed to share a bedroom with Mestivier's widow. It was later learned that Gomila was implicated in the mutiny.<ref name="Pepper"/> The crews of the British sealer ''Rapid'' and the French whaler ''Jean Jacques'' witnessed the mutiny and took action. Mestivier's widow was taken on board the ''Rapid''.<ref name="Pepper"/> Gauchos from Vernet's settlers together with armed men from the ''Jean Jacques'' captured the mutineers near what is now known as Estancia<ref name="Pepper"/> and imprisoned them on board the ''Rapid''.<ref name="Pepper"/>

The ''Sarandi'' returned a month later and its commander Jose Pinedo took control.<ref name="Strange1972"/> His investigation was interrupted on 2 January 1833 by the arrival of HMS ''Clio'' under the command of Captain Onslow. Onslow had been sent to assert British sovereignty over the islands and requested that the ''Sarandi'' and garrison leave the islands.<ref name="Strange1972"/> The ''Sarandi'' and the ''Rapid'' departed on 5 January 1833 taking the mutineers to Buenos Aires.<ref name="Strange1972"/>

On return to Buenos Aires, the mutineers were put on trial. Seven were convicted of mutiny and condemned to death, and two others received jail sentences and a flogging.<ref name="Pepper"/> On 8 February 1833, those sentenced to death were executed by firing squad and their bodies gibbeted on the gallows for four hours.<ref name="Pepper"/> The two sentenced to prison escaped the more severe punishment by extending their service in the army.<ref name="Pepper"/> The clemency shown to Adjutant Gomila (who was exiled) was bitterly criticised by Mestivier's widow.<ref name="Pepper"/>

== References == === Footnotes === {{Reflist|30em}}

=== Bibliography === {{cite book|author=Mary Cawkell|title=The Falkland story, 1592–1982|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wg8aAAAAYAAJ|accessdate=8 November 2011|date=January 1983|publisher=A. Nelson|isbn=978-0-904614-08-4|ref=Cawkelll}}

{{cite book|author1=M. B. R. Cawkell|author2=Mary Cawkell|title=The Falkland Islands: by M.B.R. Cawkell, D. H. Maling and E. M. Cawkell|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x7p4AAAAMAAJ|accessdate=8 November 2011|year=1960|publisher=Macmillan|ref=Cawkell2}}

{{cite book|author=Mary Cawkell|title=The History of the Falkland Islands|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YG8VAAAACAAJ|accessdate=20 September 2012|year=2001|publisher=Anthony Nelson|isbn=978-0-904614-55-8|ref=Cawkell3}}

{{cite book |chapter=Mestivier, Joseph François Etienne |last=Pepper |first=PJ |editor=David Tatham |editor-link=David Tatham |title=The Dictionary of Falklands Biography (Including South Georgia): From Discovery Up to 1981 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0D0VNAAACAAJ |accessdate=15 August 2011 |date=1 June 2008 |publisher=D. Tatham |isbn=978-0-9558985-0-1 |pages=368–369 |ref=Tatham}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mestivier, Esteban}} Category:Year of birth unknown Category:1832 deaths Category:Argentine people of French descent Category:Governors of the Falkland Islands Category:People murdered in the Falkland Islands Category:History of the Falkland Islands Category:Deaths by bayonet