{{Short description|French general (1776–1849)}} {{One source|date=August 2018}} {{Infobox military person | name = Pierre Labatut | image = Retrato_de_Pierre_Labatut_(Câmara_Municipal_de_Salvador).jpg | caption = Portrait by Macário José da Rocha, 1848 | birth_date = {{Birth date|1776|11|18|df=yes}} | death_date = {{Death date and age|1849|9|4|1776|11|18|df=yes}} | birth_place = Cannes, France | death_place = Salvador, Brazil | allegiance = {{flag|First French Empire}}<br>{{flag|United Provinces of New Granada}}<br>{{flag|Empire of Brazil|1822}} | branch = ''Grande Armée''<br>Colombian Army<br>Brazilian Army | service_years = 1807–1842 | rank = ''Marechal de campo'' (Brazilian Army) | battles = {{Tree list}} * Colombian War of Independence ** Magdalena campaign * Brazilian War of Independence ** Battle of Pirajá ** Siege of Salvador * Ragamuffin War {{Tree list/end}} | spouse = Claire Labatut | children = 5 }} '''Pierre Labatut''' (18 November 1776 – 4 September 1849), also known as '''Pedro Labatut''', was a French-born Brazilian mercenary and general who fought in the Colombian and Brazilian wars of independence.
== Early life == left|thumb|Baptismal register of Pierre Labatut. He was born in Cannes on 18 November 1776, to Antoine Labatut and his wife Geneviève Allègre.<ref name=":0" /> On 26 October 1807, Labatut's ship was captured by the 40-gun British frigate HMS ''Unite'', on the coast of Corfu. He was imprisoned and later delivered to Maltese authorities on 25 December 1807, and in March 1808 he was transported to England on board of the troopship ''Constantine''.<ref name=":0" /> On 22 August 1810, he appeared before Douzy, the vice-consul of France in Philadelphia, and came to request financial assistance to return to France and join its military corps.<ref name=":0" />
== Military career == === In Colombia === After being nominated general-in-chief of the Venezuelan Army, Francisco de Miranda started looking for French and British mercenaries, and recruited Pierre Labatut. In September 1812, Labatut took command of the militias of Cartagena.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="Lemaitre">{{cite book |last1=Lemaitre |first1=Eduardo |title=A Brief History of Cartagena |date=1994 |publisher=Compania Litografica Nacional S.A. |isbn=9789586380928 |location=Medellín |pages=53–54}}</ref> He was later nominated governor of Santa Marta, however, the population rebelled against him and he was forced to abandon the city.<ref name=":0" /> Consequently, he was fired of the command and exiled to the Antilles, staying there for three or four years. He did not leave empty-handed, the government of New Grenada awarded him for his services rendered a monthly pension for life of 100 ''pesos'' strong, which was served to him until 1815.<ref name=":0" /> He returned to France, where he tried in vain to return to duty, passed through Madrid in February 1816, Haiti from September to December, and then he went to Brazil.<ref name=":0" />
=== In Brazil === [[File:General Labatut.jpg|thumb|301x301px|Lithograph portrait by Jules Peyre]] Labatut arrived in Rio de Janeiro in 1821.<ref name=":0" /> He was living in Laranjeiras with his wife Clairine Labatut and his son Emanuel Antônio.{{Sfn|Rui|1960|p=31}} As a Freemason, he became closer to José Bonifácio, and was a friend of General Dirk van Hogendorp, a former aide-de-camp to Napoleon who was living in Tijuca since 1817.{{Sfn|Rui|1960|p=31}}
On 3 July 1822, he accepted the service offered by Prince Regent Pedro,<ref name=":0" /> and he was given the rank of ''general de brigada'', because of the shortage of officers in the newly organized army. On 9 July, he was nominated commander-in-chief of the relief troops to the patriots of Bahia raised against the Portuguese Brigadier Madeira de Melo, and then receive of Emperor Pedro I full powers for this expedition.<ref name=":0" /> On 8 November 1822, in Pirajá, the first major battle of the war took place. The soldiers of General Madeira de Melo were completely beaten and fled in disorder.<ref name=":0" /> On 22 January 1823, Labatut was nominated military governor of Bahia. From 15 to 20 February, he pursued the Portuguese forces in the city's suburbs and, on 3 May, he launched his troops to attack the city. General Madeira then decides to leave Bahia. His garrison boarded the squadron assembled there to guarantee the withdrawal of the troops.
Victim of calumny, Labatut was frustrated with the final victory of his rivals and accusers. One of them, Colonel Lima e Silva, made his "glorious and solemn" entry into liberated Bahia on 2 July 1823, while Labatut, arrested, waited to go to the council of war, which took place in 1824. Labatut left it completely acquitted and exonerated.<ref name=":0" /> Later, his military career at the head of the Brazilian army experienced ups and downs due to the strong and lasting enmity with Emperor Pedro I's Minister of War.<ref name=":0" /> He was expelled from the army in February 1829, and returned to France on 11 April 1831, four days after Pedro I's abdication.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=November 1996 |title=Bulletin 87: Pedro LABATUT, général de l'armée brésilienne |url=https://www.ghcaraibe.org/bul/ghc087/p1789.html |access-date=6 May 2024 |website=Généalogie et Histoire de la Caraïbe}}</ref> He obtained permission to go to Europe, from 17 June 1833 until the final of September 1834. Returning to Brazil, he was reinstated there with his former rank of ''general de brigada'', and he also received Brazilian citizenship on this same occasion.<ref name=":0" /> After having carried out several actions, he was promoted on 2 December 1839 to ''marechal de campo''.<ref name=":0" />
=== Ragamuffin War === He fought in the Ragamuffin War against David Canabarro.<ref name=":0" /> His battalion arrived in Passo Fundo, but was wiped out in September 1840.<ref name=":0" />
Labatut left active service in 1842, and died in Salvador on 4 September 1849, in the street Rua dos Barris.<ref name=":0" /> The street was later renamed in his honor to Rua General Labatut.<ref name=":0" /> [[File:Assento_de_óbito_de_Pedro_Labatut_(4Set1849).jpg|center|thumb|Labatut's death certificate, dated 4 September 1849, stating that he died of tuberculosis]]
== References == === Citations === {{reflist}}
=== Bibliography === {{refbegin}} * {{cite book |last=Silva |first=Alfredo Pretextato Maciel da |title=Os Generais do Exército Brasileiro de 1822 a 1889: Traços Biográficos |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.38770709?seq=327 |language=pt |volume=1 |location=Rio de Janeiro |publisher=M. Orosco & C. |pages=311–320 |year=1906}} * {{cite book |last=Rui |first=Afonso |title=Dossier do Marechal Pedro Labatut |publisher=Biblioteca do Exército Editora |year=1960 |location=Rio de Janeiro |language=pt}} {{refend}}
{{Empire of Brazil}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Labatut, Pierre}} Category:1776 births Category:1849 deaths Category:French generals Category:French military personnel of the Napoleonic Wars Category:Brazilian generals Category:History of Bahia Category:French mercenaries Category:French emigrants to Brazil Category:People of the Colombian War of Independence Category:People of the Brazilian War of Independence Category:Brazilian Freemasons Category:Marshals of Brazil