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Searching For a Lost Army: Recovering the History of the Federal Army's Pursuit of the Prestes Column in Brazil, 1924-1927*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

Todd Diacon
Todd Diacon*
Affiliation:
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee
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Extract

The “horseman of hope,” Brazil's “undefeated column”—much is known about the legendary Luis Carlos Prestes and his rebel column's march through thirteen Brazilian states in the 1920s. Indeed, legends are made of such stuff. Roughly one thousand rebellious federal soldiers and state policemen pushed their way through 25,000 kilometers of Brazil's isolated interior. Forced marches day and night helped them elude capture and defeat from late 1924 until they chose exile in Bolivia in early 1927. Soon the column's fame and impact reached worldwide. Even today, for example, the study of Prestes's tactics is still a part of Red Army officer training in China.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Americas , Volume 54 , Issue 3 , January 1998 , pp. 409 - 436
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1998

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Footnotes

*

Research for this article was funded by a Summer Stipend from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The author wishes to thank Joel Wolfe, W. Bruce Wheeler, and the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments.

References

1 Based on the fame of his march, Communist officials invited Prestes to study in the Soviet Union. He accepted the invitation in 1931. Morais, Fernando, Olga: A vida de Olga Benário Prestes, judia comunista entregue a Hitler pelo governo Vargas (São Paulo: Editora Alfa-Omega, 1986), p. 13.Google Scholar Pinheiro, Paulo Sérgio, Estratégias da iluSão: A revolução mundial e o Brasil, 1922–1935 (São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 1991), pp. 16–17.Google Scholar In 1987 an officer in the Red Army, part of a larger Chinese delegation visiting my university, noticed a poster of Prestes on my office wall. He became quite animated, and through the aid of a translator he spoke at length about his studies of Prestes in officer training school.

2 Useful starting points for the study of the Prestes Column are Silva, Hélio, 1926: a grande marcha (Rio de Janeiro: Civilização Brasileira, 1965)Google Scholar; Macaulay, Neill, The Prestes Column: Revolution in Brazil (New York: Franklin Watts, 1974)Google Scholar; Prestes, Anita, A Coluna Prestes (São Paulo: Brasiliense, 1990)Google Scholar; Drummond, José Augusto, O movimento tenentista: a intervenção política dos oficiais jovens (1922–1935) (Rio de Janeiro: Graal, 1986).Google Scholar The most famous participant memoir is by Prestes’s personal secretary. Lima, Lourenço Moreira, A Coluna Prestes: marchas e combates, 3d. ed. (São Paulo: Alfa-Omega, 1979).Google Scholar Other important memoirs are by Landucci, Italo, Cenas e episódios da Revolução de 1924 e da Coluna Prestes, 2d. ed. (São Paulo: Brasiliense, 1952),Google Scholar and Távora, Juarez, A guisa de depoimento sobre a Revolução Brasileira de 1924, vol.l (São Paulo, 1927).Google Scholar The most recent, and perhaps most detailed account of the Prestes Column is Meirelles, Domingos, As noites das grandes fogueiras: urna história da Coluna Prestes (Rio de Janeiro: Editora Record, 1995).Google Scholar Nevertheless, it is based largely on the works cited above.

3 Silva, 1926, p. 23. See also Prestes, Anita A Coluna Prestes, pp. 113–114.Google Scholar

4 “Weakened by years of policy errors and political intrigues the army was unable to mount an effective campaign…” against the Prestes Column. Meirelles, , As noites, p. 555.Google Scholar For other studies that stress army failures see Macaulay, , The Prestes Column, pp. 90, 178, 189Google Scholar; Prestes, Anita, A Coluna Prestes, esp. pp. 283–284 Google Scholar; Drummond, , O movimento tenentista, pp. 128, 147–148, 151–152.Google Scholar In 1926 Hélio Silva never mentions the federal pursuit of the Column.

5 This brings to mind the observation that Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did backwards and in high heels.

6 A note on terminology: by “state” or “central state” I mean, unless otherwise noted, the central government, government agencies and personnel located in Rio de Janeiro. I use the term “state” fully aware of the problems of reification as so brilliantly discussed by Philip Abrams. In this sense, I am referring to what Abrams refers to as “state systems.” Nevertheless, for reasons of style and readability I will employ the terms “state” and “central state” throughout this essay. Abrams, Philip, “Notes on the Difficulty of Studying the State (1977),” Journal of Historical Sociology, 1:1 (March 1988): pp. 58–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar For more on this issue see Corrigan, Philip and Sayer, Derek, The Great Arch: State Formation as Cultural Revolution (Oxford and New York: Basil Blackwell, 1985), pp. 7–9.Google Scholar See also, Sayer, Derek, “Everyday Forms of State Formation: Some Dissident Remarks on ‘Hegemony’,” in Gilbert, M. Joseph, and Nugent, Daniel, eds., Everyday Forms of State Formation: Revolution and the Negotiation of Rule in Modern Mexico (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1994), pp. 371–373.Google Scholar

7 Topik, Steven, “The State’s Contribution to the Development of Brazil’s Internal Economy, 1850–1930,” Hispanic American Historical Review, 65:2 (May 1985): 203–228.CrossRefGoogle Scholar The Political Economy of the Brazilian State, 1889–1930 (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1987). Font, Mauricio, Coffee, Contention, and Change in the Making of Modern Brazil (Cambridge, MA and Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1990).Google Scholar

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10 In reality, both of these projects involved Rondón, as he directed the barracks construction program from 1919 to 1924. de Viveiros, Esther, Rondón conta sua vida (Rio de Janeiro: Livraria São José, 1958), pp. 61 passim, 455–460.Google Scholar For a comparative example from the United States, one that looks at scope and impact of the federal government and army in the West, see White, Richard, “It’s Your Misfortune and None of My Own”: A History of the American West (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1991),Google Scholar esp. “Part Two. The Federal Government and the Nineteenth-Century West.”

11 Ibid., pp. 492–498. Macaulay, The Prestes Column, chap. 3 passim. Drummond, , O movimento tenentista, pp. 125–127.Google Scholar Anita Prestes, A Coluna Prestes, chapts. 4–5 passim. Meirelles, , As noites, 396–411.Google Scholar

12 Ministério do Exército, “Fé de Ofício de Alvaro Guilherme Mariante,” Arquivo Histórico do Exército, Rio de Janeiro (hereafter AHEX). Mariante, Alvaro Guilherme, “Relatório sobre as operaçães do Gfrupo] [de] Destacamentos] M[ariante] no interior do Brasil (contra as forças ‘rebeldes’ ao mando de Prestes e Miguel Costa), fevereiro de 1926-março de 1927,” pp. 14–17,Google Scholar Acervo Pessoal Gen. Góes, (hereafter AG), AHEX, caixa 7. Telegrama, Mal. Setembrino de Carvalho ao Gen. Mariante, 22 maio 1926, AG, caixa 4. Pedro Aurélio Góes Monteiro, who later when played a leading role in the 1930 Revolution, and then became Minister of War, served as Mariante’s chief officer.

13 Carta, Gen. Mariante ao Mai. Setembrino de Carvalho, 19 maio 1926, AG, caixa 7. Carta, Gen. Mariante ao Exmo. Sr. Dr. Arthur Bernardes, no date (content of letter clearly indicates it was written during the Prestes campaign), Arquivo Nacional, Rio de Janeiro (hereafter AN), AP51 Cx.3. Monteiro, Góes, “O Destacamento Mariante no Paraná occidental,” pt.l, p. 16,Google Scholar note 1, AG, caixa 3. Telegrama, General Mariante ao Presidente Minas, in Gen. Mariante, “Incidentes com o Governador de Minas,” AG, caixa 4.

14 da Guerra, Ministério, Relatório apresentado ao Presidente da República dos Estados Unidos do Brasil, 1916 (Rio de Janeiro: Imprensa Oficial, 1916), p. 4.Google Scholar da Guerra, Ministério, Relatório apresentado ao Presidente da República dos Estados Unidos do Brasil, 1920 (Rio de Janeiro: Imprensa Oficial, 1920), p. 16.Google Scholar McCann, Frank D., “The Nation in Arms: Obligatory Military Service during the Old Republic,” in Essays Concening the Socioeconomic History of Brazil and Portuguese India, Alden, Dauril and Dean, Warren, eds. (Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 1977), pp. 232–238.Google Scholar de Carvalho, José Murilo, “As forças armadas na Primeira República: o poder desestabilizador,” in História geral da civilização brasileira, tomo III, vol. 2: O Brasil Republicano, Fausto, Boris, ed., 2d. ed. (Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo: Difel, 1978), pp. 201, 231.Google Scholar

15 Klinger, Bertoldo, Narrativas autobiográficas, vol. 3 (Rio de Janeiro: O Cruzeiro, 1948), pp. 307–318.Google Scholar Macaulay, , The Prestes Column, p. 71.Google Scholar

16 Gen. Mariante, Alvaro, “Histórico dos acontecimentos … operaçães do GDM na … BAHIA,” pp. 3–4,Google Scholar AG, caixa 4A. Klinger, , Narrativas autobiográficas, vol. 3, pp. 196, 201.Google Scholar Macaulay, , The Prestes Column, p. 175.Google Scholar

17 According to Schneider, Ronald M. “the regular army left most of the task of combating the insurgents to militia or even the private armies of the interior colonels.” Schneider, Ronald M., ‘Order and Progress’: A Political History of Brazil (Boulder: Westview Press, 1991), p. 104.Google Scholar José Augusto Drummond asserts that “the Brazilian army was the weakest component of the repression” of the Prestes Column. Drummond, , O movimento tenentista, p. 147.Google Scholar

18 Mariante, , “Relatório sobre as operaçães …,” p. 25,Google Scholar note 20. Telegrama, Gen. Mariante ao Presidente de Minas, 20 abril 1926, AG, caixa, 4. Telegrama, Gen. Mariante ao Ministro Miguel Calmon, 31 julho 1926, AG, Caixa 4. Telegrama, Gen. Mariante ao Presidente da República, 14 junho 1926, AG, caixa 4. O Diàrio de Notícias (Salvador, Bahia), 6 abril 1926, p. 1. Macaulay, , The Prestes Column, pp. 189, 264, note 37.Google Scholar Pang, Bahia in the First Republic, chapt. 7 passim.

19 Mariante, , “Relatório sobre as operaçães …,” pp. 28–29.Google Scholar Telegrama, Gen. Mariante ao Presidente de Minas, 20 abril 1926, AG, caixa 4. Telegrama, Sr. C. Salles ao Gen. Mariante, 25 abril 1926, AG, caixa, 4. Telegrama, Gen. Mariante ao Senador Ramos Caiado, 9 dezembro 1926, AG, caixa 4. Klinger, , Narrativas autobiográficas, vol.3, p. 179.Google Scholar Macaulay, , The Prestes Column, pp. 129–133, 214–221, 226–227.Google Scholar Pang, , Bahia in the First Republic, pp. 158–160.Google Scholar

20 Mariante, , “Relatório sobre as operaçães …,” pp. 29–30,Google Scholar annexo, no. 2, pp. 2–3. Telegrama, Gen. Mariante ao Coronel Franklin Albuquerque, 7 fevereiro 1927, AG, caixa 4. Carta, Gen. Mariante ao Mai. Setembrino, Pirapora, 19 maio 1926, AG, caixa 8. Lima, Moreira, A Coluna Prestes, pp. 263–501 passim.Google Scholar

21 Telegrama, Gen. Mariante ao Chete Policia Bello Horizonte, 14 maio 1926, AG, caixa 4. Telegrama, Presidente Minas ao Gen. Mariante, 4 maio 1926, AG, caixa 4. Telegrama, Gen. Mariante ao Presidente Minas, 5 maio 1926, AG, caixa 4. The quotes from Góes Monteiro are in Monteiro, Góes, “O Destacamento Mariante,” pt.l, p. 37,Google Scholar note 1. Carta, Gen. Mariante ao Mai. Setembrino, 19 maio 1926, AG, caixa 8. Mariante, , “Relatório sobre as operaçães …” p. 7.Google Scholar

22 Fernandes, Heloísa Rodrigues, “A Força Pública do Estado de São Paulo,” in História gérai da civilização brasileira, tomo III, vol. 2: O Brasil Republicano, Fausto, Boris, ed., 2d. ed. (Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo: Difel, 1978), pp. 249, 255.Google Scholar Carvalho, Murilo de, “As forças armadas,” pp. 230–231.Google Scholar Couthinho, Lourival, O General Góes depãe, 2d. ed. (Rio de Janeiro: Livraria Editora Coelho Branco, 1956), p. 10.Google Scholar See also Fernandes, Heloísa Rodrigues, Política e segurança: a Força Pública de São Paulo (São Paulo: Alfa e Omega, 1974).Google Scholar On the status of state militia as federal reserve units see da Guerra, Ministério, Relatório apresentado ao Presidente da República dos Estados Unidos do Brasil, 1925 (Rio de Janeiro: Imprensa Militar, 1925), pp. 8–9.Google Scholar For an English diplomat’s comments on the strength of the Força Pública de São Paulo vis-a-vis the federal army see Sevenko, Nicolau, Orfeu estático na metrópole: São Paulo sociedade e cultura nos frementes anos 20 (São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 1992), p. 104.Google Scholar

23 Telegrama, Gen. Mariante ao Presidente da República, 14 junho 1926, p. 3, AG, caixa 4.

24 Mariante, General, “Organização de Grupo Custódio: juizo sobre essa official da F.P. Paulista,” no date, pp. 4–6,Google Scholar AG, caixa 4. Telegrama, Capitão Othelo ao Gen. Mariante, 9 dezem-bro 1926, AG, caixa 4. Telegrama, General Mariante ao Ministro Guerra, 11 dezembro 1926, AG, caixa 4. Telegrama, Capitão Otelo Franco ao General Mariante, 11 dezembro, 1926, AG, caixa 4. Telegrama, Gen. Mariante ao Dr. Bento Bueno, Secretário Justiça, São Paulo, 18 dezembro 1926, AG, caixa 4. Telegrama, Gen. Mariante ao Ministro Guerra, 21 dezembro 1926, AG, caixa 4. Telegrama, Major Góes ao Chefe Gabinete Ministro Guerra, 28 dezembro 1926, AG, caixa 4.

25 Mariante, General, “Incidente com o Governador da Bahia,” no date, pp. 1–2, AG, caixa 4.Google Scholar

26 Ibid. General Mariante, , “Descripção dos fatos occoridos até a travessia da via ferrea em Santa Luzia,” no date, pp. 6–11, AG, caixa 4.Google Scholar General Mariante, , “Relatório sobre as operaçães …,” p. 30.Google Scholar Telegrama, Gen. Mariante ao Ten. Cel. Brasil, 22 junho 1926, AG, caixa 4. The governor’s version of this dispute, one that reprints Mariante’s angry telegrams, can be found in Drde Góes Calmon, Francisco Marques, da Bahia, Governador do Estado, Mensagem apresen-tada a Assembléa Geral Legislativa em 7 Abril de 1927 (Salvador: Imprensa Oficial do Estado, 1927), pp. 238–242.Google Scholar It is quite possible that the governor ordered the return of federalized militia troops because General Mariante sent some state soldiers to fight under the command of patriotic battalion commander Horácio de Matos, the sworn political enemy of Góes Calmon. General Mariante, , “Descripção …,” p. 11.Google Scholar On the extended and violent dispute between Góes Calmon and Horácio de Matos see Pang, Bahia in the First Republic, chaps. 5, 6, and 7 passim.

27 There is no direct evidence that Agriculture Minister Miguel Calmon intervened in this particular dispute. Earlier, however, Minister Calmon had received a lengthy telegram from Bahian Federal Deputy Francisco Rocha, himself the organizer of one of the principle patriotic battalions, that asked him to pressure Mariante to limit the use of federal troops to the interior of Bahia, lest a broader field of action cause a conflict with the governor. Telegrama, Francisco Rocha ao Ministro Miguel Calmon, 1 março 1926, reprinted in General Mariante, “Incidente com o governador da Bahia,” supplemento. In an official report Gen. Mariante’s statement of the failures and weaknesses of the Bahian militia is typed in red ink. General Mariante, , “Descripção …,” p. 11.Google Scholar

28 Telegrama, General Mariante ao Ministro Guerra, 24 julho 1926, AG, caixa 4. MajorMonteiro, Góes, “Boletim,” p. 248,Google Scholar AG, caixa 4. Lima, Moreira, A Coluna Prestes, pp. 413–414.Google Scholar Meirelles, , A noite, pp. 577–578, 594–596.Google Scholar

29 Lima, Moreira, A Coluna Prestes, p. 413.Google Scholar Telegrama, Maréchal Setembrino ao Gen. Mariante, 2 agosto 1926, AG, caixa 4. Macaulay, , The Prestes Column, pp. 228–229.Google Scholar At one point War Minister Setembrino de Carvalho put the relationship this way: “as agreed to by the Governor of São Paulo, Colonel Pedro Dias will exercise full freedom of action against the rebels in Goiás.” Telegrama, Maréchal Setembrino ao Gen. Mariante, 31 julho 1926, AG, caixa 4.

30 Telegrama, Gen. Mariante ao Presidente Republica, 31 julho 1926, AG, caixa 4. In a telegram to War Minister Setembrino de Carvalho the general roared that “If the state of São Paulo can organize a truly effective fighting force of two thousand men, something that until today the Minister of War has not been able to do, then I have no doubt that the insurgents will be defeated.” Thus, “it is good to terminate all superfluous personnel, beginning with me.” Telegrama, Gen. Mariante ao Ministro Guerra, 31 julho 1926, AG, caixa 4. Of the decision to grant autonomy to the FPSP Góes Monteiro later remarked that “it was a demonstration of the hatred for the army and the unpopularity of the armed forces.” Coutinho, O General Góes depãe, p. 38.

31 For an example of such vague assurances see Telegrama, Maréchal Setembrino ao Gen. Mariante, 2 agosto 1926, AG, caixa 4. “It is a fact that Colonel Pedro Dias wants full independence of action, and given that I hold this to be unacceptable I ask that the government designate my replacement.” Telegrama, Gen. Mariante ao Ministro Guerra, 5 agosto 1926, AG, caixa 4.

32 Telegrama, Gen. Mariante ao Ministro Guerra, 10 agosto 1926, AG, caixa 4.

33 Telegrama, Gen. Mariante ao Coronel Pedro Dias, 14 agosto 1926, AG, caixa 4. Telegrama, Gen. Mariante ao Coronel Pedro Dias, 2 outubro 1926, AG, caixa 4. Telegrama Coronel Pedro Dias ao General Mariante, 2 outubro 1926, AG, caixa 4. Telegrama, Gen. Mariante ao Ministro Guerra, 2 outubro 1926, AG, caixa 4. Telegrama, Gen. Mariante ao Ministro Guerra, 25 janeiro 1927, AG, caixa 4.

34 Interview, name witheld by request, Rio de Janeiro, July 4, 1993.

35 For an example of how General Mariante himself admitted that the lack of adequate soldiers and supplies was not the cause of the army's failure to capture Prestes see pp. 18-19 of this article. For examples of private citizen offers to form patriotic battalions see Telegrama, Gen. Mariante ao Senador Ramos Caiado, 9 dezembro 1926, AG caixa 4; Telegrama, Gen. Mariante ao Presidente Minas, 5 maio 1926, AG, caixa 4; Mariante, , “Relatório sobre as operaçães …,” p. 7 Google Scholar; Klinger, , Narrativas autobiográficas, vol. 3, p. 179.Google Scholar “With rare exceptions I do not think irregular units are capable of helping the war effort.” Telegrama, General Mariante ao Ministro Guerra, 21 dezembro 1926, AG caixa 4. Mariante wrote these words in response to an offer from the citizens of Santa Luzia, Goiás, to form a patriotic battalion. Telegrama, Gen. Nestor Passos ao Gen. Mariante, 20 dezembro, 1926, AG, caixa 4.

36 de Guerra, Ministério, Relatório apresentado ao Presidente da República dos Estados Unidos do Brasil (Rio de Janeiro, Imprensa Official, 1917), p. 8.Google Scholar

37 Macaulay, , The Prestes Column, p. 120.Google Scholar Klinger, , Narrativas autobiográficas, vol. 3, pp. 185–288, 300–302.Google Scholar

38 Klinger, , Narrativas autobiográficas, vol.3, pp. 187, 194–195, 216, 226, 244–246, 257–258, 267, 299–300.Google Scholar

39 Ibid., p. 299.

40 Ibid., pp. 169–170, 174. According to Klinger (p. 179), the patriotas in this detachment served just three weeks before being dismissed as incompetent and counterproductive.

41 Drummond, , O movimento tenentista, p. 147.Google Scholar

42 Mariante, Alvaro “Grupo de Destacamentos ‘Mariante’: extracto dos principaes documentos relativos as operaçães do ‘GRUPO’ no estado da ‘BAHIA,’ relativos aos MEZES de FE-VEREIRO e MARCO [1926],” AG, caixa 4, pp. 1–6.Google Scholar Telegrama, Cap. Góes [Monteiro] Chefe Estado Maior G.D.M. ao Coronel Pedro Dias, 14 agosto 1926, AG, caixa 4. Reports of legalist troop numbers were wildly exaggerated. In Salvador, Bahia, A Tarde newspaper reported that “8 or 10,000” legalist soldiers were in the field against the rebels in Bahia. A Tarde, Salvador, Bahia, 9 março 1926, p. 1. The real number was closer to 4,000 in March, 1926, with perhaps as few as a few hundered legalist soldiers in Bahia at the beginning of February.

43 The patriota commanders were the Bahian notables Franklin de Albuquerque, Abilio Wolney, and Horácio de Matos (see p. 7).

44 Telegrama, Major Goés ao Tenente Coronel Sampaio, 13 janeiro 1927, AG, caixa 4. In late January, 1927, Mariante ordered the commander of a riverine naval unit at Ladário, Mato Grosso, to turn over supplies and ammunition to Franklin de Albuquerque. Telegrama, General Mariante ao Commandante Belfort, 27 janeiro 1927, AG, caixa 4.

45 Telegrama, Gen. Mariante ao General Nicolau, 27 dezembro 1926, AG, caixa 4. The fact that Mariante extended such praise after the rebels reached exile suggests that this was a genuine gesture, and not just a motivational ploy. Telegrama, Gen. Mariante ao Coronel Franklin Albuquerque, 7 fevereiro 1927, AG, caixa 4. Telegrama, Gen. Mariante ao Tenente Coronel Wolney, 11 fevereiro 1927, AG, caixa 4. Rebel officer and chronicler Lourenço Moreira Lima likewise noted the effectiveness of the three patriotic battalions during the last phase of the insurgency. Moreira Lima, A Coluna Prestes, chapts. 11,12 passim. See also, Macaulay, , The Prestes Column, pp. 220–221, 227–228.Google Scholar

46 Drummond, , O movimento tenentista, p. 127.Google Scholar Prestes, A., A Coluna Prestes, pp. 172–173, 179.Google Scholar Meirelles, , A noite, pp. 364–366.Google Scholar

47 Drummond, , O movimento tenentista, p. 128.Google Scholar

48 Prestes, A., A Coluna Prestes, p. 170–72.Google Scholar Nelson de Mello quoted in Ibid., p. 170. Macaulay, , The Prestes Column, pp. 85–87.Google Scholar

49 Macaulay, , The Prestes Column, p. 192.Google Scholar

50 On the French Military Mission and the promotion of a strategy of defense against a full-scale foreign invasion see Roquié, Alain, The Military and the State in Latin America (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1987), pp. 81–82 Google Scholar; McCann, Frank D., A nação armada: ensaios sobre a história do exército brasileiro, tradução por Sílvio Rolim (Recife: Editora Guararapes, 1982), pp. 63–64 Google Scholar; de Carvalho, Murilo, “As forças armadas,” p. 199 Google Scholar; Coutinho, , O General Góes depãe, p. 3.Google Scholar The quote from War Minister Setembrino de Carvalho is from de Guerra, Ministério, Relatório apresentado ao Presidente da República dos Estados Unidos do Brasil (Rio de Janeiro: Imprensa Militar, 1926), p. 5.Google Scholar Perhaps the most dramatic failure of the army’s strategy of concentrating forces in defensive positions against Prestes was the “defense” of the city of Teresina, Piaui. There, 4,000 troops gathered in the city, thus clearing the way for easy rebel passage through a now mostly undefended northeastern interior. Macaulay, , The Prestes Column, pp. 181–183, 188–189.Google Scholar

51 Carta, Gen. Mariante ao Mai. Setembrino, 19 maio 1926, p. 7, AG, caixa 4. Mariante, , “Grupo de Destacamentos ’Mariante’ …,” p. 12.Google Scholar

52 Monteiro, Góes, “O Destacamento Mariante,” pt. 3, p. 66, n. 2.Google Scholar Mariante, , “Descripção dos fatos occoridos até a travessia da via férrea em Santa Luzia,” p. 1.Google Scholar

53 The telegrams between the two commanders are too numerous to cite here. They can be found in AG, caixa 4. Telegram, Maréchal Setembrino ao General Mariante, 17 março 1926, AG, caixa 4. Carta do Gen. Mariante ao Mai. Setembrino, 19 maio 1926, AG, caixa 4. Telegrama, Mal. Setembrino ao Gen. Mariante, 22 maio 1926, AG, caixa 4. Meirelles, , A noite, pp. 555–557.Google Scholar

54 Telegrama, Gen. Mariante ao Presidente da República, 14 junho 1926, p. 1, AG, caixa 4. Mariante, “Descripção dos factos …”

55 Mariante, , “Descripção dos factos…,” p. 1.Google Scholar

56 Telegrama, Gen. Mariante ao Presidente da República, 14 junho 1926, p. 2, AG, caixa 4. For examples of the decommission of patriotic battalions see “Desincorporação, QG em Aracajá, Dia 27 de julho de 1926,” AG, caixa 4.

57 I have found no direct references to Klinger in the papers of General Mariante and Major Góes Monteiro. Given the timing and circumstance of events, however, it is hard to believe they were unaware of his experiences.

58 Klinger, , Narrativas autobiográficas, vol. 3, pp. 175, 198, 226, 326–327.Google Scholar

59 Ibid., pp. 239–240, 279–280, 294, 323–324, 331.

60 “Conferencia do dia 22 de abril de 1926: Cap. Góes, Cap. Fonseca.” AG, caixa 4. Telegrama, Gen. Mariante ao Major Bittencourt, 29 abril 1926, AG, caixa 4.

61 Telegrama, Gen. Mariante ao Major Bittencourt, 29 abril 1926, AG, caixa 4. In this telegram Mariante refers to the locals’ exact complaint, but he does not name the individuals involved, nor does he cite the exact local. Telegrama, Major Bittencourt ao Gen. Mariante, 30 abril 1926, AG, caixa 4.

62 In Coronelismo em Goiás F. Itami Campos argues precisely this. Three times in the early 1900s Goiás politicians demanded federal intervention in the state. All three requests were ignored. Itami Campos, F., Coronelismo em Goiás (Goiania: Editora da Universidade de Goiás, 1987), pp. 20–22, 43–45, 75, 83.Google Scholar

63 Macedo, Nertan, Abilio Wolney: um coronel da Serra Geral (Goiania: Legenda Editora, 1975), pp. 21, 42–47, 69–86.Google Scholar Campos, , Coronelismo em Goiás, pp. 78–79.Google Scholar

64 Macauley, , The Prestes Column, pp. 129–133, 162.Google Scholar Macedo, , Abilio Wolney, pp. 43, 89–93.Google Scholar

65 Telegrama, Brazil Caiado ao Gen. Mariante, 12 dezembro 1926, AG, caixa 4. Telegrama, Gen. Mariante ao senador Ramos Caiado, 9 dezembro 1926, AG, caixa 4. Telegrama, Senador Ramos Caiado ao Gen. Mariante, 26 dezembro 1926, AG, caixa 4. Telegrama, Gen. Mariante ao senador Ramos Caiado, 26 dezembro 1926. Lima, Moreira, A Coluna Prestes, p. 409.Google Scholar

66 Diamonds were first mined in 1908. By 1925 as estimated 25,000 garimpeiros worked in the region. França, Basileu Toledo, O triangulo dos diamantes (Goiania: Editora da Uníversidade de Goiás, 1994), pp. 32–33, 61–62, 85–104.Google Scholar Macaulay, , The Prestes Column, pp. 118–119.Google Scholar

67 Ibid., p. 121.

68 Ibid., pp. 118–119. Lima, Moreira, A Coluna Prestes, p. 155.Google Scholar Klinger, , Narrativas autobiográficas, vol.3, pp. 213–215.Google Scholar For more on the isolation of the region see França, , O Triangulo, pp. 25–64.Google Scholar

69 Pang, , Bahia in the First Republic, p. 124.Google Scholar

70 Ibid., p. 160.

71 Fundação Getúlio Vargas, Centro de Pesquisa e Documentação de História Contemporanea do Brasil, Dicionário histórico-biográfico brasileiro: 1930–1983, vol. 3, Bloch, Israel and de Abreu, Alzira Alves coordinators (Rio de Janeiro: Editora Forense-Universitária Ltda., 1984), p. 2093.Google Scholar

72 The author attended this reception, which also inaugurated a museum exhibition that chronicled the march.

73 As Minister of War Góes Monteiro also quickly subordinated the state police forces to the federal army. Coutinho, Lourival, O general Góes depôe, 2d. ed. (Rio de Janeiro, 1956), pp. 14–15, 30, 35–38.Google Scholar Góes Monteiro with an introduction by Smith, Peter, “The Brazilian Army in 1925: A Contemporary Opinion,” Florida International University Occasional Paper Series (Fall, 1981).Google Scholar Smith, Peter, Góes Monteiro and the Role of the Army in Brazil (Bundoora, 1979), pp. 4–6.Google Scholar