Luis Daoiz

Luis Daoiz
Statue of Luis Daoiz in the Plaza de la Gavidia, Seville, by the sculptor Antonio Susillo.
Born	February 10, 1767 Seville
Died	May 2, 1808 (aged 41) Monteleón Barracks, Madrid
Military career
Allegiance	Spain
Branch	Artillery of the Army
Rank	Captain
Commands	Monteleón Barracks
Conflicts	Uprising of May 2

Luis Daoiz y Torres (Seville, February 10, 1767 – Madrid, May 2, 1808) was a Spanish military officer who took an active part in the uprising of the people of Madrid against the French on May 2, 1808, an act that marked the beginning of the war to expel the French invaders.

Together with his comrade Pedro Velarde, he went down in history as one of the principal heroes of that day, symbolizing the resistance of the Spanish people against the Napoleonic army.

Origin and family

His father, Martín Vicente Daoiz Quesada, belonged to an old noble family of Navarre, originally from the town of Aoiz, closely linked to the militia since the Reconquista. This lineage included knights such as Berenguer D'Aoiz, who settled in Navarre, and García Garcés D'Aoiz, who took part in the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa. In the mid-17th century, Daoiz's grandfather, Joaquín D'Aoiz, a native of Pamplona, moved with his family to Gibraltar to hold the office of Alguacil Mayor and perpetual Regidor. After the fall of Gibraltar to the English, the family was forced to move to El Puerto de Santa María, where they owned some estates called Espínola. They also had other properties, such as Quesada in Cádiz, Monreal in Medina Sidonia, and several estates in Sanlúcar de Barrameda. In addition, they held two seigniories in Navarre, nine merindades, and the main house in Aoiz, together with its fields and vineyards. Beginning with Joaquín D'Aoiz, Regidor of Gibraltar, the surname D'Aoiz was Castilianized to Daoiz.

Luis Daoiz's mother was Francisca Torres Ponce de León, from an Andalusian family. His parents married on February 2, 1766, and lived temporarily in the palace of Doña Francisca's family in Seville.

Biography

Childhood and education

Luis Daoiz was born in Seville, in the palace of the Counts of Miraflores de los Ángeles, located on Calle del Horno, on Tuesday, February 10, 1767. He was recorded on folio 26 of the baptismal register of the parish of San Miguel under the names Luis Gonzaga Guillermo Escolástica Manuel José Joaquín Ana y Juan de la Soledad. His godfather was Fray Juan Mateos, a presbyter of the Calced Carmelites. His siblings were María del Rosario, who would hold the title of first Countess of Daoiz, Francisco, and Josefa.

During his childhood he lived in his maternal grandmother's palace in Seville and also spent some summers at the house she owned in Mairena del Alcor. He studied at the Jesuit college of San Hermenegildo, which stood on the site now occupied by the Plaza de la Gavidia and several nearby buildings.

Military career

Luis Daoiz began his military career at the Royal College of Artillery of Segovia, located in its Alcázar.

His father requested his admission into the army in 1782, when he was 15 years old. At that time, the Artillery Corps was highly elitist and only admitted persons of noble lineage. Luis Daoiz obtained the corresponding approval of nobility in a file issued on July 10, 1781, and entered as a cadet at the Royal College of Artillery of Segovia, located in the Alcázar of that city, on February 10, 1782. His stay at the College lasted until February 9, 1787; there he proved to be a good student and stood out especially in fencing with the saber and the sword, obtaining the rank of Ensign. His first posting was to the battalion of the Royal Artillery Regiment stationed in El Puerto de Santa María.

In 1790, with the rank of Sublieutenant, he volunteered for the defense of Ceuta, in command of a battery of his regiment. The following year he was sent to the city of Oran (Algeria) attached to the company of miners. There, in 1792, at the age of 25, he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant of Artillery on February 18 as a reward for his merits.

Between March and November 1794, he took part in numerous actions in the second phase of the War of Roussillon against revolutionary France. On November 25 of that same year, Luis Daoiz was taken prisoner and held as such in Toulouse. During his captivity, as his worth as a soldier and artilleryman was known, as well as his knowledge of mathematics and of several languages (English, French, Italian, and Latin), he received offers to go over to the revolutionary side. He rejected all of them, since his only wish was to return to Spain to serve in its defense. After the signing of the Peace of Basel in 1795, which ended the conflict, he was released and returned to his post in El Puerto de Santa María.

Service in the Navy

Scarcely had the war against France ended when hostilities began against England. In 1797, owing to the shortage of specialist officers in the Spanish Navy, Daoiz was assigned to it as reinforcement. On July 11 of that year he was entrusted with command of a tartane gunboat with a furnace for red-hot shot, under the orders of Admiral José de Mazarredo. During the siege of Cádiz by the English, Daoiz led one of the launches that attacked the ships of Admiral Nelson, distinguishing himself in the attack on the ship Poderoso. His excellent service earned him promotion to the rank of artillery officer of a ship of the line.

He later joined the 74-gun ship San Ildefonso, commanded by Captain José de Iriarte. His mission was to defend the colonies in America, a continent to which he traveled twice, and to protect the fleets of the Indies run. In November 1800, while in the port of Havana (Cuba), he learned through out-of-date "Gacetas" that he had been promoted to Captain of Artillery on March 4 of that year.

During his service in the Navy he wrote the "Método que debe usarse para la enseñanza de la tropa y marinería en los ejercicios de cañón y abordaje" (Method to be used for teaching troops and seamen in gunnery and boarding exercises), a small tactical manual intended to teach embarked soldiers the tactics used on ships. On July 7, 1802, he returned to the Peninsula and was posted to his original regiment, the Third Artillery Regiment of Seville. There he was assigned scientific tasks owing to his mathematical knowledge and its application to the development of artillery. In 1803 he was posted to the Royal Bronze Foundry and was a member of the commission headed by Brigadier Vicente María de Maturana for the construction of new artillery pieces.

With his regiment he took part in the Second War of Portugal and was later assigned to a prominent post in Fontainebleau (France). In 1807, the regiment to which he belonged moved its second company to Madrid, and Daoiz requested a transfer to the capital, whereupon he was appointed commander of the battery stationed at the Artillery park established in the palace of the Duke of Monteleón. That same year, his parents arranged his marriage, for the spring of 1808, to a young noblewoman from Utrera, who ultimately entered a convent in Seville after Daoiz's death.

Uprising of May 2

Monument to Luis Daoiz and Pedro Velarde in the Plaza del 2 de Mayo in Madrid. Work of Antonio Solá. The arch is the old gate of the Monteleón Barracks.

Main article: Dos de Mayo Uprising

After his transfer to Madrid, Daoiz witnessed the arrival of the French troops in the city at the end of April 1808 under the command of Joachim Murat, then regarded as allies for the invasion of Portugal. However, the occupation of strategic points and the attitude of the imperial troops created growing tension. Seeing the turn events were taking, Daoiz planned a general uprising with Pedro Velarde, which failed for lack of support from the authorities.

On May 2, 1808, Murat ordered his troops to occupy the main points of Madrid. Luis Daoiz was in command of the Monteleón Artillery park, with a small garrison of four officers, three non-commissioned officers, and ten soldiers. Inside the barracks there was also a detachment of eighty French soldiers. Pedro Velarde, for his part, obtained command of a company of 33 men and went to the park. After a tense conversation, Daoiz and Velarde decided to disobey the orders to remain confined to barracks, to supply the people with weapons, and to defend themselves. Both chose to fight against the French.

Nineteenth-century depiction of the defense of the artillery park and the death of Daoiz.

Velarde organized the defense with some 120 civilians and the soldiers, while Daoiz took position at the gate of the park directing a battery of four cannons loaded with grapeshot. Thanks to this arrangement, they managed to halt several charges by the French infantry, inflicting heavy casualties. The fighting lasted about three hours, but ammunition began to run short, and General Joseph Lagrange received reinforcements until he had assembled 2,000 infantrymen for the final assault.

Wounded in the thigh, Daoiz tried to continue the defense. In a moment of confusion, the Marquis of Saint-Simon offered to negotiate. When the firing ceased, General Lagrange demanded surrender and, addressing Daoiz, called him a traitor. Daoiz, who understood French, would not tolerate the insult and, rising from the ground, ran Lagrange through with his saber. In the confusion, several French grenadiers attacked him from behind and pierced him with their bayonets. He was carried, gravely wounded, to his house, where he died that same day. He was buried in the church of San Martín alongside Velarde and other Spanish soldiers.

Legacy and honors

On May 2, 1814, the remains of Luis Daoiz were moved, together with those of Velarde, to the Collegiate Church of San Isidro el Real. Today they rest in the Monument to the Heroes of the Dos de Mayo, erected in 1840 on the Paseo del Prado in Madrid.

In 1852, the city of Seville placed a plaque in his memory on the site of his house in the Plaza de la Gavidia, and in 1889 a monument in his honor, the work of the sculptor Antonio Susillo, was erected in the center of the square.

One of the two lions, known as "Daoiz y Velarde", that adorn the main entrance of the Congress of Deputies of Spain.

The two bronze lions that adorn the main entrance of the Congress of Deputies in Madrid, cast at the Royal Artillery Factory of Seville, are named "Daoiz y Velarde" in honor of both officers. They were cast from the metal of cannons captured in the War of Africa of 1860 and are the work of the sculptor Ponciano Ponzano y Gascón.

See also

• Daoíz Prize
• Daoiz y Velarde

External links

• ABC, diario insurrecto de la monarquía (in Spanish)
• Original documents on May 2 held by the City Council of Madrid (in Spanish)