The early years of our greatest military chronicler of the Independence and Manuel Belgrano's trusted officer. His family and childhood in Córdoba. His fondness for studies, culture, and reading. Juan Martín de Pueyrredón's work in support of the Army of the North in Córdoba. Paz as an infantry militia lieutenant. His march to the North to reinforce the Army.
José María Paz was one of the most remarkable Argentine strategists of all time and a privileged witness to the most important events of our Nation's birth. He had the honor of meeting most of our founding heroes and participating in many of the actions in which our Army of the North fought. However, his life was eventful and sacrificial; full of bitterness, hardships, and disappointments.
His early years are not very well known. José María was born on September 9, 1791, in the city of Córdoba, capital of the Córdoba del Tucumán intendancy, in the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata. He was the firstborn of the marriage between José de Paz, from Buenos Aires, and Tiburcia Haedo, from Córdoba. His father was an official of the colonial Post Office, and both parents were financially well-off, which allowed them to provide their children with a thorough education. This was reflected in their training, vocabulary, way of speaking, and writing. Julián and María del Rosario Paz Haedo (future mother-in-law, also of Gen. Paz) would be the other children the couple had.
The broad culture of José María Paz
Throughout his life, José María would notice how his cultured, clear, and concise way of expressing himself, narrating events, and conducting himself contrasted with the ignorance, illiteracy, or lack of even the most basic manners or ability to speak or write of many of his contemporaries, with honorable exceptions. On more than one occasion, he would describe some high-ranking officers from the Río de la Plata (especially the federal caudillos) as people of little intelligence, or that one could not expect them to be like Julius Caesar; who not only knew how to fight well, but also "speak and write well"; which was what our caudillos most lacked.
The eldest son of Gen. Paz, José María (Jr.) tells us that the general's parents "provided him from his earliest years with a thorough education, not only preparing his mind to adorn it with useful and varied knowledge, but also instilling in his heart delicate and generous feelings that he knew how to preserve throughout his life, amid so many vicissitudes, and in very difficult positions."
In 1804, and at 13 years of age, he entered the Loreto Seminary as a boarding student, where he received a thorough education, for the time, in philosophy and theology; until he completed his studies as a Bachelor of Arts, with special training in mathematics, Latin, and law. From there, José María would acquire his fondness for reading classical works of the ancient Romans, such as Caesar, Cicero, and others, in Latin; a penchant he would retain even during his years of imprisonment and until the end of his days.
At that time, there were not many opportunities for higher education in Córdoba, Paz's hometown; and as his son narrates: "at that time, it is well known that few careers were open to young people: the ecclesiastical and legal professions were the preferred ones. Paz was willing to adopt whichever suited him best, having attended philosophy and theology classes at the University of Córdoba." Thus, in 1808, at 17 years of age, he enrolled in that House of Studies, with the desire to become a lawyer, as was customary in leading families.
The May Revolution
José María was "in his third year of law studies when the revolution broke out in Buenos Aires that brought down the power of the Viceroys. The students of the University of Córdoba, his homeland, were already touched by the political movement, which would soon embrace the entire extent of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, and then set all of Spanish America ablaze," his son tells us.
Indeed, at that time, a counterrevolution had broken out in Córdoba, led by the royalist governor Juan Gutiérrez de la Concha and his comrade and friend Don Santiago de Liniers, which was quickly thwarted with the arrival of the Army of the North.
Then, the entire inland province joined, from then on, the cause of May. In line with this, "Paz embraced the new ideas with all the ardor of youth, and it can be said that no one surpassed him in patriotic enthusiasm. Thus, from that moment, he belonged to the cause of the Revolution, that is, the political independence of our country, with all the strength of his soul. His parents' decision for the same cause, to which they never ceased to be devoted, helped to strengthen these feelings."
His brother Julián, who was also born in Córdoba, on March 16, 1793, was two years younger than José María; to whom he was very attached, and following the firstborn, had also begun his studies in "both laws", at the University. Regarding him, José María (Jr.) tells us: "his brother, Mr. Julián, a little younger than him, and who was also studying, was in the same situation. Thus, when the first liberating expedition arrived in Córdoba, and after the first national government was established in the province, which was held by then-Colonel Juan Martín Puyrredón, both they and their family stood out for their liberal and patriotic sentiments."
