Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/249

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VALDES
VALDIVIA
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to effect his junction with Serna. In February, 1824, he was detached against Gen. Olafieta when the latter pronounced against the viceroy, and was occupied in putting down this movement, when, after the battle of Junin, 6 Aug., 1824, he received orders from Serna to join the main army in Cuzco. He assisted with his division in the battle of Aya- cucho, 9 Dec, 1824, and, executing an able counter- march, fell on the left wing of the patriots under Gen. La Mar, which was already wavering when he was routed by the republican cavalry under Gen. William Miller. After the capitulation of the viceroy, Valdes was transported with the rest of the army to Europe, promoted by the king ma- jor-general, and created Viscount of Torata. At the death of Ferdinand VII. in 1833 he was gov- ernor of Carthagena, and, after proclaiming Isa- bella II., he marched to the north as commander- in-chief, taking part in the whole campaign against the Carlists. He was senator for Valencia and captain-general of several provinces with the rank of lieutenant-general until 1840, when he was ap- pointed governor-general of Cuba. During his administration he improved the fortifications of Havana, constructed the military hospital, and subdued a dangerous rising of the negro slaves. He was recalled by the provisional government in 1843, and returned to Europe, where he was made by the young queen Count of Villarin.


VALDES, Jose Manuel, Peruvian physician, b. in Lima about 1780 ; d. there in 1840. He was of negro parentage, and studied in the convent of San Ildefonso under the protection of an Augus- tinian friar, but chose the medical profession, as the church, the army, and the civil service were closed to him by the prejudices of the time. In 1807 he was graduated in medicine in the Uni- versity of San Marcos, where he read one of his three dissertations that were afterward printed in Madrid. Besides practising his profession, he also wrote poetry, most of which is mystic or religious. He published " Disertacion sobre el Cancro Uteri- no " (Madrid, 1815) ; " Disertacion sobre la Menin- gitis de los Ninos " (1815) ; " Disertacion sobre la Disenteria" (1815); "Poesias sagradas" (Lima, 1819 ) ; "La Fe de Cristo triunfante en Lima " (1822) ; " Poesias espirituales, escritas a beneficio y para el uso de las personas sencillas y piadosas " (1833) ; and " Salterio Peruano, 6 Parafrasis de los ciento cincuenta Salmos de David " (1836).


VALDES Y SIERRA, Gerdnimo, Cuban R. C. bishop, b. in Gijon, Spain, in 1646 ; d. in Ha- vana in 1729. After finishing his theological studies and receiving sacred orders, he was a pro- fessor in the University of Alcala until 1706, when he was appointed bishop of Cuba. He founded in Havana in 1710 the San Isidro hospital, and in 1711 an asylum for foundlings, and caused to be constructed the monastery of Santa Teresa. In 1722 he established in Santiago de Cuba a college and seminary which was at first devoted only to theological students, but afterward it was opened also to lay instruction. He also founded several churches in other cities and spent a great deal of his income in public charities.


VALDEVIEIRA, Miguel (val-day-ve-ay'-e- rah), Portuguese soldier, b. in Portugal about 1480 ; d. in Sao Vicente, Brazil, in 1540. He was a soldier in Cabral's expedition to Brazil in 1500, and for mutinous conduct was abandoned with one companion near the present site of Porto Se- guio. They were adopted by the Tupi Indians, and afterward rendered great services to explorers. Valdevieira, who had reformed, entered the Fran- ciscan order, and assisted in the foundation of Sao Vicente, where he died. He left a valuable manuscript, " Viagem da provincia da Vera Cruz," in which he recounts his adventures with the In- dians during his exile in the territory of Vera Cruz, as Cabral named the country at its discovery.


VALDIVIA, Luis de (val-de'-ve-ah), Spanish missionary, b. in Grenada, Spain, in 1561 ; d. in Valladolid, Spain, 5 Nov., 1642. He became a Jesuit in 1581, and, after finishing his studies, was sent by his superiors to Peru. He was successive- ly master of novices and professor of theology, and labored for many years among the Indians of Chili and Peru. He attained a perfect mastery over the Indian dialects of those countries, and his works are of philological value. He returned to Spain in 1621. He wrote "Arte y gramatica de la lengua que corre en todo el reyno de Chile con un vocabulario y confesionario " (Lima, 1606); "Cate- cismo en lengua Alentina" (1602); "Arte, gra- matica, vocabulario, &c, en lengua Chilena y en las dos lenguas Alentiac y Milcocoyae, que son las mas generales de la provincia de Cuyo en el reyno de Chile, y que hablan los Indios Guarpes y otros " (1608) ; " Relacion de la entrada del presidente D. Alonso de Ribera desde Arauco a concluir paces con los Chilenos " (1608) ; " Relacion de su entrada en el reyno de Chile para apaciguar aquellos rebel- des" (1612); and various other theological, histori- cal, and linguistic works.


VALDIVIA, Pedro de, Spanish soldier, b. in Serena, Estremadura, about 1490; d. in Tucapel, Chili, 1 Jan., 1554. He served in the wars of Italy and Flanders, went with Georg von Spire to Venezuela, and afterward served under Pizarro in Peru, taking an active part in the campaign against the elder Almagro in 1537, in which he was appointed mariscal. As such he participated in the battle of Salinas, 6 April, 1538, and was rewarded by Pizarro with permission to conquer Chili. While he was preparing an expedition, Pedro Sanchez de Hoz arrived from Spain with a royal grant of the same country. To avoid difficulties, Pizarro advised the two competitors to join their interests, and on 28 Dec, 1539, a contract of partnership was signed. Valdivia soon gathered a considerable number of adventurers, and purchased arms, beginning the march to the south in January, 1540. On the edge of the desert of Atacama he met, in August, Sanchez de Hoz, who had been able to gather only horses, without finding followers ; so, despairing of his success, he sold the animals and his share in the enterprise to Valdivia. The latter resolved to avoid the road over the Andes, which had proved fatal to Almagro's army, and set out resolutely through the desert. After a march of five months, and suffering great privations, they arrived in a beautiful valley, called by the natives Mapocho, and there Valdivia founded, on 12 Feb., 1541, the city ot Santiago. He had himself appointed governor of the territory by the council of the new city, when the news of the assassination of Pizarro arrived. At the mouth of the river Aconcagua he constructed a ship to send to Peru for further supplies, but he was obliged to return in haste to Santiago to subdue a mutiny. Afterward he marched against the Indians, who had begun to resist the invaders, and defeated them at Cachapoal, returning in time to relieve the capital, which was hard pressed bv the cacique Michimalonco. The resistance of the Indians became daily stronger, and as the vessel that he had constructed in Aconcagua had been destroyed by the natives, Valdivia sent, in 1542, Alonso de Monroy, with five followers, overland to Peru for re-enforcements, but, on account of the disturbance in that country in con-