Adventurers, Foreign Women and Masculinity in the Colombian Wars of Independence Author(s): Matthew Brown Reviewed work(s): Source:

Feminist Review, No. 79, Latin America: History, war and independence (2005), pp. 3651 Published by: Palgrave Macmillan Journals Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3874427 . Accessed: 30/05/2012 15:25
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;t9

adventurers, women in of the and

foreign masculinity Wars

Colombian

Independence

Matthew Brown abstract

This paper examines changing conceptions of honour and musculinityduring the Colombion Warsof Independence in the early l9th century.It exploresthe position of the foreign women who accompanied Britishand Irish expeditions to join the war against Spanishrule, and shows howcolonial, imperialand republican conceptionsof musculinity were affected by the role that women played in these volunteer expeditions and in the wars in general. The paper considers women's experiences during war and peace, and examines their experiences in the light of changing conceptionsof masculinityat home, in the Britishempireand in HispanicAmericain the early nineteenthcentury.Thesocial mobilityof the Warsof Independence shifted the groundon whichthese concepts rested for all groups involved.The participation of foreign women alongside male adventurers was a further ingredient in this disorientatingperiod.

keywords
war; Colombia;Venezuela;Bolivar;honour;independence

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The Wars of Independence merits of diplomatic

in Spanish America (c.1810-1825) of the new states.

attracted

attention officials in

across the Atlantic region. Politicians in London, Paris and Washington debated the recognition cclesiastical Madrid and the Vatican agonized over whether appointing new bishops in Spanish America would amount to tacit support of rebellious regimes, and whether this was worse than leaving whole swathes of territory unministered. The Haitian government provided support to the rebels in Venezuela, while Russia organized xiles from the warfare of capitalism' and regional

a task force to restore order in the Spanish colonies. who sought new trading opportunities

fanned across the Caribbean, and were replaced by the 'missionaries from the chaotic circumstances

power vacuums (Franco, 1999: 139). The British government adopted an ambiguous position, due to its official support of Spain as a uropean ally and unwillingness to do anything that might encourage French expansionism in the Western Hemisphere (Lynch, 1994). Instead, Britain tolerated 1 The expeditions are discussed at Ie ngth in Lam bert (1983) and Brown ( 20 04a) . The vast majority of adventurers served in the territories whose Iibe rat io n fro m Spanish rule was led by Simon Bolivar: the Capta incy- Gene raI of Venezuela, the Viceroyalty of New Granada, and the Presidency of Quito. The Republic formed from this region was called Colombia until its disintegration in 1830. Historians now refer to this entity as 'Gran Colombia' to differentiate it from New Granada, which assumed the name Colombia in 1863. Unless otherwise noted, al I translations from Spanish language documents are my own. 2 For clarity, the o ppos ing s ides in this conflict are referred to as ' Independents' and 'Loyalists'. These terms reflect both contemporary usage and avoid the potential confusion arising from the fact that both sides believed themselves died of fevers in the tropical climate, settled the departure from its shores and

of over 6,000 adventurers to fight in the rebels' army and navy in Colombia.1 Many but others served for over a decade in the region when the wars were over. Several of these founded families These remain standard sources for historians of the Rafter, 1820; Vowell, 1831; and see the

retain their surnames today, while others returned home and wrote narratives of the events they had witnessed. period (e.g. Chesterton, comprehensive 1820;

bibliography in Thibaud, 2003: 545-554). to Colombia, making up around 3% of the army.2 This figure is broadly consistent British Army regiments abroad in this Irish, but their number

At least 130 foreign women travelled expeditions

that joined the Independent

with the number of women who accompanied period (Holmes, 2002: 293-295). included English, Scottish, fighting, attempting status neither

They were predominantly

Welsh, German and Portuguese women. While none of appear to have taken active part in any men. Like the soldiers, their was one of waiting and the part of the

the women who joined the expeditions did a substantial predominant experience

of the Wars of Independence

to ward off disease,

hunger and boredom. This left plenty of time for backgrounds to negotiate and their peers: these encounters

men and women of lower-, middle- and upper-class and honour granted them by the state repeatedly

produced conflict and tension (Brown, 2004a). to the organization of the expeditions in Dublin and

The women who contributed neglected by historians'

London, and the women who travelled out to Venezuela and Colombia, have been close focus on military and political and principally because history. Only one Mary nglish left with woman has merited any attention she was the wife of

General James Towers English, whose archive she preserved. a centre of social activity for the foreign officers,

London in 1819, and her husband died of yellow fever within the year. She became and corresponded important leaders such as Simon Bolivar. Rather than return to Britain, she remarried (to an English merchant) and remained in Colombia, eventually dying on

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her cacuo portrayed

hacienda as the

in the

1840s to

(Scott,

1991). pattern

yet Mary English has been of male adventuring. expeditions The which

exception

a general

historiography

is extremely

similar to that

of the volunteer

travelled to assist Garibaldi in Italy three decades a few prominent women have obscured

later, in which the adventures of

the wider picture of more generalized

involvement (e.g. Daniels, 1972; Blanchard, 1978). This can partially be accounted for, in both cases, by the limited and fragmentary nature of the sources relating to the experiences and diaries accounts of other women. While Mary English left personal correspondence Papers,
HA157/11/10),

(English

there

are no published

women's for the

of travel in Colombia in this period similar to those available (Hahner, 1998).

southern part of the continent

By using a combination of official correspondence, court documentation which explain the conventional

newspaper articles and criminal

from both sides of the Atlantic, some insights can be gained neglect of women's involvement in the expeditions.

Owing to their relatively privileged position as whites with perceived links to men of political or economic influence, the petitions of foreign women were more likely to be preserved in the remaining archives than those of local women. The sources consulted show that, as in broadly contemporaneous changes conflicts elsewhere in the Atlantic world, women were involved in warfare in practical, physical compaigning, and also in the profound conceptual mobilization and conflict (e.g. that were catalysed 1998: 125-127). by military see Hoganson, commitment It is beyond the

capacity of the sources available to suggest whether British and Irish women joined the conflict based on an emotional that meant that their lives 'were irrevocably altered both in personal and political terms', as has been argued for the British women who served in the Spanish Civil War (Jackson, 2002: 207). Indeed, any discussion were 'female terms) of changing notions of 'femininity' adventurers' with relation to these women would be complicated by the scarcity of sources, and the question of whether they is beyond the scope of this paper. It is possible that and imaginative as a set of new test to freedoms to assert withheld at home. In

to be ' patri ots', basing themselves on different understandings of the term 'patria'. Most studies of the Wars see 'Independents' as synonymous with 'patriots', 'rebels' and 'republicans', and 'Loyalists' with 'royalists' and 'Spaniords' . Essential Iy, the ' Indepe ndents' sought more, although not necessari Iy total, inde pendence from Spa in, and the ' Loyalists' were loyal to Spanish rule and the pre-war state of affairs. That these are vague and not necessari Iy mutual Iy exclusive terms reflects the ambiguity and shared roots of much of the thinking behind these events, in which regions, towns, classes, ethnic groups and individuals often changed 'sides' according to perceived advantage and political circumstance .

involvement in these far away wars (for away in both geographical gave British and Irish women access adventure that against provided 'a challenge the vicissitudes Graham Dawson's assessment, circumstances capubilities (Dawson, unsettling experiences should be understood

human will and [to]

of a world that remains deeply uncertain' however, is that the was rather of the of an exploration

1994: 53). What does appear from the sources, for many of the men involved. In this sense,

presence and participation

of women in these adventurous expeditions

of these women against the background of changing conceptions

masculinity in the early 19th century at home, in the British empire and in Hispanic America, can cast new light onto a key period of history.

In Britain and Ireland in the early 19th century, concepts of masculinity based upon domestic fulfilment were still in their infancy (Tosh, 1999: 6). The Napoleonic Warswitnessed the final curtain call for the 'adventurous masculinities' that had

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foreignwomenand musculinity in the Colombian Wurs of Independence

occupied such importance during the regular international 18th century. In the metropole status based on demonstrations force in the army and

and imperial wars of the ideas of honour and society (Kelly, 1995; These

and its close surroundings, sections of plebeian

of physical strength began to die out, maintaining

in some

Shoemaker, 2001). Conceptions of musculinity among groups adventuring overseas came to be very different from those valued at home (Dawson, 1994: 66-74). imperial concepts male adventurers. of honour were carried out with them to South America by the In the first years of the conflict, they often resorted to physical and status in

displays of prowess and bravery as they marked out their identities 'domestic' manliness,

this new environment (Alexander, 1830: 39). Although in many ways in contrust to adventure abroad came to be valued as a necessary part of the journey to manhood, and a prelude to domestic fulfilment upon return to what one adventurer, Charles Cavendish, called 'the bosom of my family in my country' (Carlos Cavendish to the Vice-President
11,

of

Colombia,

14 December

1820,

Angostura, AGNV GDG, Vol.

f. 92).

As such, the masculinity of adventurers was always understood as being judged not only by their fellow adventurers but also at home, in the domestic sphere to which they would hopefully return. They were sent off with the hopes and good wishes of the wives, mothers and sisters who were to stay at home. Mary O'Connell, whose 17-year-old son Morgan joined the Irish Legion in 1819, wrote that 'as the time (Mary O'Connell to Daniel O'Connell, 27 March 1820, Dublin, in him on his new-found maturity and manliness of the adventurers were publicly musculinity was consciously defined and approaches for parting with my fine boy, my heart fails me and I regret ever having given my consent' 3 Mary O'Connell was the wife of Daniel O'Connell (Born 1775 in Co. Kerry, died 1847 in Genoa) the prominent Irish Catholic lawyer who founded the Catholic Association in 1823, which campaigned for Catholic mancipation, passed in 1829. In the 1840s, he founded and led the Repeal Association, and was known as 'The Liberator', a term also used to describe Simon Bolivar, in whose armies Morgan O'Connel I served. M. O'Connell, 1972: 248).3 When Morgan returned from Colombia less than two years later, his sister complimented (. O'Connell, 1822: 1622). The manly attributes debated in the contemporary press-their negotiated

in the eyes of other men, and of women. Presenting one regiment with it will not be indifferent to you that the women anxious for your triumph, and for your you'

its standard before departure from Dublin for South America, a Mrs Putland told them that 'I am sure, gentlemen, of Ireland look upon [you] with interest,

glory. From my heart I shall pray for honour, victory and glory to attend (Phillips, 1819: 4). Mary O'Connell told another group:

I have the honourto present you this Flag, which I am sure you will not cherishthe less for being handed to you by an Irishwoman, who admires and loves those emotions of courage and sentiments of liberty which bear you from your native land. May success and glory attend your steps, and peace and happiness crownyour efforts. This, Gentlemen,shall be my sincere prayer.
(DEP, 19 July 1819)

Adventurers continued South America.

to imagine the women at home while they were away in during the occupation of Riohacha in 1819, in

Before his death

Lieutenant J. Oliver wrote a nostalgic poem which dwelled upon the 'breasts so fair and thighs so white' of an nglish maiden (AGI Cuba, Legajo 745, undated,

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papers collected

from the bodies of soldiers

killed in action).

Robert Parsons

described a recurrent day-dream

he enjoyed during the breaks from campaigning:

there stretched at full length, I wouldsoon ... fancy myself at KildareStreet, and say, how wonderfulit is that yesterday I was tossing about in the Atlantic on boardthe Urdaneta and today to be comfortablyat home, with the girls questioningme about what I had seen, and how glad they were at my sudden return.
(FDJ, 19 June 1820)

In Hispanic America, the adventurers

encountered

a world where colonial

and

republican ideals of masculinity were in conflict, has argued, musculinities to new social against the conventionally

and where discussions developed

of gender

filtered into every aspect of the Wars of Independence. in the region have continuously circumstances. mother country. and political

As Guttman (2003: 1-23) and adapted man was

In this period, Colombians rose up While a good

'madre patria', the

also held to be a good son, by rebelling against the rule of Spain he and by extension his liltimate senores: the honour'. but it had to be by the against

was attacking the 'land of his fathers',

King of Spain and God, in the name of a new 'national Citizenship of the new republic was an honourable values of lineage,

attribute,

earned. In Hispanic America republican virtue and honour were founded on the old blood and purity, although these had been re-defined dishonourable and an offence decision to rebel against Spain. Subjection to an absolute was now felt by some to be demeaning, masculinity. The conduct of foreign adventurers, leaders to assert monarch, Fernando Vll,

who had come to liberate 'the themselves as the judges national of

innocent children of the Sun' (Phillips, 1819: 4), became an impnr+ant test case for the ability of the Independent honourable government definition. Hierarchies of masculinities The colonial caste links between and lineage were altered during the transition to republican rule. 'sexual
1991;

behaviour, based

and was therefore

integral to the new legitimacy of nascent

of the self-

in Angostura,

and a touchstone

possessiveness',

domination

of dependents, altered to

(Gutierrez,

Stern, 1995) gradually

became

lay more emphasis honourable, accessibility

on 'patriotic

virtue', bravery in battle

and 'manly bearing'. backgrounds. mixed race

Regular militury service, which had in colonial times often been seen as less than was now a source of honour for men of al I social One consequence was that men of such honourable qualities of (Peter N1. Beattie in Guttman, 2003: 233-235). became much more socially mobile, especially war period, adventurers changes. where non-white been obsessed people Republican citizenship of the increased In the post-

in the armed forces.

and Colombians alike had to come to terms with these had to find a way to combine the new realities authority, with the maintenance of the old 1999). Men who had previously exercised

social and caste orders (Chambers, 1999; Sabato, with bravery and courage

in militory service were now married,

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foreign women and masculinity in the Colombian Wars of Independence

and began to act like colonial taking up the domination title entailed (Pino, 2000).

padres de familia
sla\/es,

(fathers/heads

of families),

of dependent

women and children that this

Like those soldiers who returned to Britain from Indicl in the 1860s, Robert Parsons imagined the reception of his feats by the women at home. But what distinguished his adventures in South America from later British imperial activity was that he was not operating in a world that had been 'purged of women through their physical exclusion' from military life (Dawson, 1994: 76). Hundreds of women were part of the Independent forces, seek the approbation but Parsons focused on British women and chose not to to his of the Venezuelan women who were closer witnesses

actions. The women imagined at home by Parsons and Oliver illustrate how national origin and ethnicity intersected the foreign adventurers. By presenting their courage and manliness for the approval of women at home, adventurers emphasized a hierarchy of masculinities. To a large extent, they shared the concerns of Creoles in Colombia to maintain the existing social and caste orders. They agreed that indigenous men, black men, and men of mixed-race were less honourable, 138-156). reliable and loyal than themselves (e.g. Robinson, 1822: Even when rare members of these groups could be relied upon in military during the Wars of Independence), or 'untrustworthy' and articulated about their 'savagery' with the gendering of the Wars of Independence for

service (the principul criteria for masculinity any praise was hedged with concerns

nature (Brown, 2004b). As in Brazil in the same period, caste or 'race' prejudices continued to determine the ways that masculinity was conceived by Creoles (Kraay, 2001). Contemporaries recognized that women were integral to these conflicts of honour, masculinity between

new, old and foreign conceptions Spanish authorities

and order. In 1819, the

in the coastal town of Riohacha launched a lawsuit against the of their husbands, were accused of 'shouting subversive order'

widows of Independent soldiers. The widows, who were kept imprisoned in the town after the executions expressions out of their window in an attempt to undermine the established (AGI Cuba, Legajo 745). The women imprisoned

in Riohacha were a mixture of

Britons, Irishwomen, Portuguese, Colombians and Venezuelans. While the foreigners had travelled out from Britain and Ireland, many local women joined them when the campaigning armies passed through their home towns and villages. armies often looted conflicts requisitioned food and supplies This was accepted to find provisions. practice, and historions Colombian or else of other from small communitiesJ

consider that the widespread

looting of villages

and towns by British

troops included rape of local women (Esdaile, 2003: 151). A few cases survive in which the attempted the purpose of these Wars of Independence, rapes were mentioned, documents, although this was always peripheral to of the adventurers during the had which generally referred to men's honour, not

that of women. Looking back on the sexual activities

Colonel Thomas Manby implied that many relationships

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resulted in the birth of children. Writing in 1836, he commented that 'some of our friends are now legitimate fathers, and others in a fair way of being so in due time' (Manby to Mary Greenup, 8 May 1836, Bogota, Manby's own emphasis). reward of the patient during the nglish Papers, HA157/3/215, More often, the company of women was portrayed as the and enduring soldier. Lieutenant James Nangle called the in which he danced with local women. For

island of Margarita 'this miserable isle', but fondly recalled his 'great fundangoing' Christmas festivities Lieutenant M. Clair, such opportunities were a great delight: he described how

we live like the 'sons of kings' here, we have rations of beef, mutton, pork, bread, and abundanceof all kinds of wines, of the best description- and, as for fruit, get out of your tent in the morning,and pull any kindyou may wish for- and we have, every night, Spanish dancers, and Fandangoes,with the Native Girls,some of whomare very handsome ....
(DEP, 6 April1820)

During the Wars of Independence very few adventurers chose to marry local women. Private Francisco (Francis) Kean, who in 1820 was granted temporary license to leave the Albion Battalion to spend time with his new wife at Altagracia on the Venezuelan coast, appears to have been the exception (BLAACM DbO010, DbO734). Once the wars were over, around 100 foreign adventurers settled the foreign adventurers, the Wars of Independence into society and of married local women across Colombia. There is little evidence to suggest that for were 'not only fields butchery, but also of the painful separation suffering of absence', of men and women exposed to the

as they were for many Colombions (Tovar, 1984). stayed in Angostura, the port on and where they awaited the the troops on their the most famous

Many of the foreign women from the expeditions army's return from campaigning marches across Venezuela. the devotion of these adventurer/chronicler duties.

the River Orinoco where they arrived in 1818-1820

Others accompanied Independent cause,

In an extract often cited by historians to demonstrate

women to the

Daniel O'Leary described an unnamed British woman giving up the Paromo de Pisba mountain pass in of female endurance were common to

birth to a child in the snow half-way

1819 (O'Leary, 1952: 568). Such stories

contemporary accounts of warfare, and an almost identical story was told relating to the British retreat from La Coruna in 1808-1809 (sdaile, 2003: 152). Six women were listed as having survived the British Legion's march across Venezuela, arriving at Caracas in September 1822. But this document stressed that it included only the 'legitimate women' who had accompanied and 'illegitimate' the buttalion from ngland-implying that there were also 'illegitimate' both 'legitimate' women who had come from ngland, as well as women from Venezuela. Only the first group was The continued presence of cast into relief, yet this

listed and formally awarded rations (Testimony of Colonel Ashdown, 5 September 1822, AGNV, Dr Julian Viso Papers, Vol. 1, ff. 326-327). foreign women alongside the endurance gender-defining the Independent and manliness of the officers troops throughout this campaign and soldiers

presence has been generally ignored by commentators.

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foreign women and masculinity in the Colombian Wars of Independence

Some non-commissioned

officers petitioned the Governor of Angostura on behalf of

their wives. Sergeant Thomas Maynard requested that he 'make the seven months of back pay I am owed, available to my wife and child ... so that they may have a secure subsistence until my return' (Maynard to Governor of Angostura, petitioned the authorities. 23 April 1819, Angostura, AGNVGDG, Vol. 10, f. 326). It was more common, however, that the women themselves petitions were consistent women who persistently to such representations frequency, as In Hispanic America, these of middleand high-status who in turn often responded were growing in (Oldfield, 1995; with a cultural tradition

applied to public authorities,

out of fear of shame (Bermudez, 1992; Socolow, 2000). In from women to public authorities in the Anti-Slavery campaigns

Britain and Ireland, petitions demonstrated

Midgley, 2000). The petitions studied here were unique in that they were directed to political authorities in a republic, rather than a representative Nevertheless, of the Church or of officers to resist Crown, and in that they came from women of all social groups-widows as well as private soldiers. their gender subordination, in Angostura. In January 1819, Manuel Manrique reported on a petition presented to him by the British women who stayed in Angostura while their men were campaigning. a small allowance, can receive-more He reported that they had requested that no other group receives-or 'as they find themselves that 'I am well aware rather than any clear attempt They disorientated

the surviving evidence of petitions indicates that they the local authorities

were triggered by hunger and desperation.

without means in a strange country'. Manrique continued

than their strict rations, but In

the poverty of these women has convinced me to avoid further pain, by meeting their request' (Manrique, 23 January 1819, Angostura, AGNVGDG, Vol. 9, f. March that same year, Colombian Vice-President
11).

Francisco Antonio Zea ordered the

Governor of Angostura to provide lodgings and two rations daily for Ana McGowan, wife of a soldier serving in the Bajo Apure, and her small son (Zea to Governor of Angostura, 24 March 1819, AGNV GDG, Vol. 9, f. 295). On 3 April, the McGowans 3 April 1819, Angostura, AGNV GDG, were included in a list of 14 women and children receiving rations at Angostura (Vicente Lecuna, 'Relacion de los ingleses', Vol. 10, ff. 255-257). A fortnight later, the same women lodged a formal complaint

with Angostura's Governor. Vicente Lecuna passed on the message that 'the English women complain that the butcher treats them very badly when he gives them their meat rations'. Lecuna noted wryly that 'unfortunately this means that he will treat them even worse when he doesn't give them any: since today, there is no meat' (Lecuna to Governor of Angostura, 22 April 1819, Angostura, AGNV GDG, Vol. 10, f. 258). Despite the straitened financial circumstances, the Independent authorities to feed them

eventually yielded to the foreign women's petitions. played on the minds of senior officials. colleague that

The obligation

In May 1820, Manuel Bota wrote to a

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as we hctveno funds to give them ... please tell me how we are going to give them their small allowance, as they come to the office everyday, cryingabout the things they need, interruptingour work, when we are already overworked and understaffed .... (ManuelBota to Directorof Rents, 17 May 1820, Angostura,AGNV GDG, Vol. 11, f. 190) But as their partners increasingly died or left the Independent service, British and Irish women found that they could no longer rely on the goodwill of the new republic, which awarded them an ambiguous counterparts. Many had died, suffered status in comparison to their male In of Venezuela: illness or lost children and husbands.

October 1820, Martha McCarroll wrote to the Vice-President

Myhusband,the Majorin charge of the MusicalBandin this capital, has recently died, and I find myself without means to maintain my family of five children in this country. I therefore request that you grant me a passport so that we can travel to a BritishColony that will be able to accommodate us. (MarthaMcCarroll to the Vice-President, 9 October 1820, Angostura,AGNV GDG, Vol. 11, f. 64. The possport was granted the same day) The presence government splashed of literate newspaper foreign the women in Angostura was recognized by the in

Correo del Orinoco, which on 13 November 1819

news of 'Women's Society stablished

the otherwise

incongruous

Stockport' across its front page. Several women remained long after the Colombian Army had moved away from the region. A rare list of foreigners preserved in the Archivo Historico de Guayana in Ciudad Bolivar (as Angostura (Sig.1.3.4.103.5). is now called) reveals that in May 1823, there were still 18 foreign women resident in Angostura Catalina Peterson and Isubel Negard were certainly widows of their present occupation as 'trader', and members of the British Legion, and this was probably the case for others too. Peterson and Negard both described others were listed as servants or 'domestics'. government to provide them with sustenance, contacts or discovered new ways of supporting themselves. Faced with the reluctance of the

foreign women either left the region Mary nglish, with her high-level but her tenacity and

and personal audiences with Colombian leaders such as Simon Bolivar and

Antonio Narino, may appear at first to be the exception, to South America with the expeditions. Ann Hodgkins was another example. survived the climactic settle. extremes Circumstantial

resilience were in line with many of the other British and Irish women who travelled

evidence

indicates

that she in similar

had travelled to South America with her parents in the Irish Legion back in 1820, of militury campaigning and then, fashion to older and higher-status In 1825, she was 19-years and received women like Mary nglish, moved up to Bogot& to old, and spoke and wrote fluent Spanish. She militury officer, Captain Henry or

travelled regularly between Bogota and Mompox, two of the principal towns in the republic, money from a foreign Macmanus, although she denied in court that she had had 'any social contact

intimacy' with him (AGNC R AC, Legajo 60, f. 926). There were others like her. Miss

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O'Hara, the niece of an adventurer Colonel, returned from Colombia to ngland two years later, and one observer commented that her experiences in South America had changed the previously 'mild' woman: 'Her breakfasts and coffee, disguised campaign, [she] concluded her delicate herself as his assistant, but was discovered were the astonishment

of us all; her appetite was most voracious, and having taken some aversion to tea meal with a pretty stiff screw of brandy The wife of Dr William Breen him on back to and water' (young, 1820: 22-38, original emphasis).

'James Malone', in order to accompany

half way across the Atlantic, and escorted

ngland (Morning Chronicle, 9 March 1820). Mary Helen Lawless, the widow of a member of the Irish Legion, remained in Bogota and ran her own shop (nglish Papers HA157/3/201). Mrs Nowlum supported herself, her retired husband and their down dead while standing at young child in Bogota until 1831, when she 'drop[ed] the table washing' (English Papers, HA157/1/382). Women like Mary Lawless continued negotiating political expected identities Independence any to play an important and active part in

in the post-war period. Women's involvement in the Wars of to any improvement in their own legal, hoped for, nor 221). But the 'a contested the possibility and male elites Some high-profile with status' (Cherpak, 1978: position, and they neither championed,

may have been 'tangential improvement in their

and economic

involvement

of women in the conflict

meant that women occupied presented

seat at the revolutionary banquet' in the immediate post-war period (arle, 2000: 137). Female involvement in the Wars of Independence that women could take a greater part in society subordinate position within the family' these (arle, in peacetime, 2000: 142).

therefore took care to ensure that 'women were to relate to the republic via their women were able to escape principal political boundaries. After the death of her lover, the

Colombian President Simon Bolivar in 1830, Manuela Saenz used her contacts national life. Male politicians order to defend themselves 2001; Murray, 2001, 2003). historians) exceptional consequently

figures in order to forge a path for women like herself into adapted their language and actions in (and subsequent interest to from the threat they felt posed by Saenz (Chambers, While her celebrity of female

may make Manuela Saenz appear, like Mary nglish, to have been an figure in a general scenario insignificance, the petitions

considered in this paper reveal enough exceptions to cast some doubt on the rule. This final section caused considers two cases where what at first appear to be disputes and 'sexual possessiveness' were in fact changes that emerged from the social and geopolitical by colonial ideas of masculinity

based upon new concepts women in the process.

brought about by Independence

from Spain, and involvement of foreign and local

With the wars in Colombia largely over, many foreign adventurers settled capital, with Independence.

in the

Bogota, to await the rewards that they had been promised would come Their inactivity, high consumption of alcohol and the fact that in 'expatriate' groups, often led to conflicts and

they tended to stick together

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tensions,

and (more rarely) lengthy legal disputes (Deas, 1996). One such dispute Corporal Jacob and Legajo 96, ff. and him

was triggered when Captain Henry Macmanus drunkenly accused Teeson of cheating at cards (AGNC R AC, Legajo 60, ff. 890-972 812-819). Salvadora Roboya. She threw them out into the street, Teeson refused to be arrested by his superior officer.

The event took place in August 1825 in a bar owned by a local woman, where they scuffled Macmanus followed

home, burst through the door and pointed his gun at Teeson's chest. The control of women was at the heart of the dispute Jane Teeson (nee pringhom), between the two men.

Macmanus had recently been accused of trying to rape Teeson's wife, 20-year-old an Irishwoman who he had married in Bogota the her house and drew their weapons, previous year. When the two men entered

pringham put herself between the two men and insulted Macmanus by 'slapping him in the face'. Two of Teeson's criadas (female servants), Juana de la Cruz Salgar and Maria Seferina Herrera, told the court that the altercation 'history' of relations conflict of musculinities. had its roots in the between Teeson and Macmanus, which turned out to be a Teeson said that he could not understand why Macmanus officer, claiming returned to

had been recently promoted to his position as a commissioned Battle of Jenoy. When Macmanus' girifriend, another

that Macmanus had hidden behind a rocky outcrop 'like a coward' during the 1821 Irishwoman, Bogota, Macmanus made Teeson promise not to say anything about the attempted rape, and Teeson agreed to this 'in the spirit of friendship'. During the eight-month imprisonment he suffered while the trial come to court, Jacob Teeson worried that Macmanus would seek to take advantage house, unprotected The local authorities of Teeson's defence of his 'wife [who] lived in an empty from thieves and other dangers'. in Bogota made no mention at all of the roles that women was interpreted only in terms Macmanus was of his own physical security and musculinity.

had played in the dispute. Instead, the confrontation

seen to have abused his authority by insulting Teeson by entering uninvited into the house where Teeson 'lived happily with his wife and family'. 'Sexual possessiveness' was in the citizenship. process of being overtaken by new republican considerations of Colonial concerns remained, however. Just as in Lope de Vega's Golden drinking with them, mixing with their women and with

Age honour play Peribanez, the root of the trouble was found in Macmanus' overfamiliarity with his subordinates, problems in the social colonial conceptions deplorable. even picking fights with them. Such behaviour was believed to lead inevitably to order, and such a verdict was entirely consistent and the lack of fraternity exhibited of masculinity. But Macmanus and Teeson were also noted to was even more Despite the between soldiers as

have been 'like brothers',

The new elite preferred to interpret the conflicts

founded on disputes over physical strength, bravery and subordination. role played by women in the Wars of Independence, and military elites masculinity sought to cement a social and fraternal bonds between men.

this case shows how political

order based upon new forms of

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A second example is more illuminating of the general trends at play. In Rosario de Cucuta in mid-1821, the deputies elected to the Colombian Congress met to decide upon a Constitution for the new state. Those hoping to influence proceedings in their favour made their way to the town, and among them was the recently widowed Mary nglish. At a private interview, she requested special consideration from Vice-President Antonio Narino, who replied that the Government was in no When informed of this interchange, the Irish position to grant her any favours. was subsequently arrested

General John Devereux interpreted it as a slight on Mary nglish's honour, and he for having challenged Narino to a duel (Villaveces, 1932; Restrepo Canal, 1959). In the interpretation offered by nglish's biographer, discussed Narino and Devereux were 1991: 90), and for this in other terms. the episode

honour-bound fools manipulated

by a savvy woman (Scott,

reason perhaps, most male commentators

Bolivar described Devereux's challenge as 'madness

... a real disgrace, a stupidity and the Congress which is

that compromises the Government and its functionaries, July 1821, Valencia; treated as an equal, Santander,

supporting him. The case should have remained personal' (Bolivar to Santander, 10 1988: 199). Antonio Narino himself complained Devereux's claims to be (Narino to that 'the foreigners here are driving me mad'. He attacked Bolivar, 28 June 1821, Rosario, in Narino, 1990: 169). Devereux saw himself as a noble knight intervening to defend the slighted honour of an abused maiden in 'a case of life and honour' (Villaveces, demanded 'the response that justice 1932: 130). He A friend requires and honour demands' from Narino

deriding him as an 'officer without command'

(Devereux to Narino, 30 May 1821, Cucuta, nglish Papers, HA157/6/97). subsequently

told Devereux that his 'chivalry' meant that 'you have indeed proved Narino rejected those was of Colombia, Narino honour is completely

yourself worthy of your spurs and of your country' (Richard Jaffray to Devereux, 19 November 1821, London, nglish Papers, HA157/6/27). demands completely because his understanding of justice, at odds with that of Devereux. As Vice-President with this case until the government's honour and masculinity

felt that his personal honour was bound up with the dignity of his office, and that he must 'continue satisfied, treat their subjects so that these adventurers will stop coming here and treating us like they in the ast Indies' (Narino to Bolivar, 31 May 1821, Cucuta;

Narino, 1990: 131-133). Conversely then, both Narino and Devereux were exercised by notions of equality. The former wanted the British to be treated in Colombia as Colombions would be in Britain, whereas Devereux hoped to assure his own individual honour by challenging Narino as an equal. Narino wished to avoid a duel so as not to cause a negative impression to be carried back to urope, and thus endanger 'the patria made so many sacrifices 1990: 165-168). A duel was avoided because we have for' (Narino to Congress, 26 June 1821, Cucuta; Narino, Narino was able to secure his own and eventually by sending

honour by the physical imprisonment of his challenger,

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him for judicial

trial in Caracas.

Devereux had backtracked

considerably.

He

repeatedly stressed that he had never proposed a duel, nor intended to offend the honour of the Vice-President misunderstanding protested immutable, challenge, that or the Republic. He blamed his translator's when he translated subsequently 'essential of the concepts 'surely the from nglish to Spanish' forced into exile, are eternal and

(AGNC R AC, Legajo 78, f. 34). The translator, rudiments and apply at all the extremities

of liberty and justice

of the globe?' (G. Lowe to Congress,

2 June 1821, Cucuta, AGNC R MG, Vol. 166, f. 877). Since the very day of the Mary nglish's claims for 'justice' from the Colombian government had been forgotten. Devereux's translator had hit upon the heart of the matter. Political independence from Spain brought many changes in the way that society was governed in Hispanic America, and protecting women's honour was no longer as important a constituent of masculinity as it had been in the colonial period. The muss mobilization entailed by the Wars of Independence social Spanish arrangements imperialism' 'set into motion both short and long-term changes in which would have been impossible under and relationships

(Kinsbruner, 1994: ix). The foreign women who came to basis.

Colombia in this period, like Mary nglish and Ann Hodgkins, entered a society that was undergoing profound change in its conceptual

The subtext to all of the foreigners' relations with Hispanic Americans, of course, was caste or 'race'. This did not always involve looking down upon 'inferior' peoplesJ although it often did (Brown, 2004b). Some sources suggest working and emotional relationships. Foreign women employed local criadas to work in their of trust and affection with homes. On occasions, they formed lasting relations

local women. When Mary nglish died in 1846 in Cucuta, 'over a hundred local women turned out to her funeral' and lamented her passing (J.M. Sanchez to D. O'Leary, Cucuta, 1 October 1846, nglish Papers, HA157/11/2). Like Colombian women, foreigners authorities, mobility, different complicated and participated petitioned and negotiated with the political British and physical and social men and women of presence further of those who crossed

in disputes

over honour and identity. between

Irish women arrived in Colombia at a period of increased which led to unprecedented social, caste and national a conflict that emphasized encounters backgrounds. the masculinity

Their

the Atlantic to serve the Republic against the Spanish armies. During the colonial period, women were seen as an essential domination Independence Wars of and 'sexual possessiveness'. part of establishing The social masculinity through of the Wars of mobility

shifted the ground on which these concepts of foreign women alongside further destabilized concepts

rested for all involved. in the Colombian musculinity in a of

The participation disorientating

male adventurers

Independence period.

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acknowledgements
I am extremely grateful to Rebecca arle, to the Modern History Seminar at UCL, and to Natasha Carver,Catherine Hall and MarjanSchwegman for their comments on previous versions of this paper. Archival research in Venezuela and Colombia was carried out with the support of the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland, and the paper was written while I was a uropean Union Marie-Curie Fellow at the Universidad Pablo de Olavide in Sevilla.

abbreviationsof archivalsources cited

AGI Archivo General de Indias, Sevilla. AGNC R AC Archivo General de la Nacion, Colombia, Seccion Republica, Asuntos Criminales. AGNC R MG Archivo General de la Nacion, Colombia, Seccion Republica, Miscelanea General. AG NV GDG Archivo General de la Nacion, Venezuela, Secci on Gobernacion de Guayana. BLAA CM Biblioteca Luis Angel Arango, Casa de Moneda, Bogota. DP Dublin vening Post English Papers James Towers nglish Papers, Suffolk County Record Office, Ipswich. FDJ Faulkner's Dublin Journal PROFO Public Record Office, London, Foreign Office Papers.

author biography
Matthew Brownis Teaching Fellow at the Department of Hispanic, Portuguese and Latin American Studies at the University of Bristol.

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