Francisco da Silveira, 1st Count of Amarante

Francisco da Silveira Pinto da Fonseca Teixeira
Count of Amarante
19th-century portrait of General Silveira, Count of Amarante
Successor	Manuel da Silveira Pinto da Fonseca Teixeira, 2nd Count of Amarante, 1st Marquess of Chaves
Full name	Francisco da Silveira Pinto da Fonseca Teixeira
Born	(1763-09-01)1 September 1763 Peso da Régua, Portugal
Died	27 May 1821(1821-05-27) (aged 57) Vila Real, Portugal
Noble family	Fonseca Teixeira
Father	Manuel da Silveira Pinto da Fonseca
Mother	Antónia Silveira
Occupation	Lieutenant General (War of the Oranges, Peninsular War)

D. Francisco da Silveira Pinto da Fonseca Teixeira, 1st Count of Amarante (1 September 1763 – 27 May 1821) was a Portuguese army officer who fought in the War of the Oranges and other campaigns of the Peninsular War.

Biography

Francisco da Silveira was born in the town of Canelas (now Peso da Régua), the son of Manuel da Silveira Pinto da Fonseca and Antónia Silveira.

Career

He became a cadet in the Almeida Cavalry Regiment on 25 April 1780, from which his career developed in subsequent years: he was promoted to ensign by 27 February 1790; then lieutenant in the 6th Cavalry Regiment, then called the Light Regiment of Chaves, on 17 December 1792, before becoming a captain and adjunct-aide to the field marshal of the Province of Beira, João Brun da Silveira, on 17 December 1799. He succeeded his father as the Majorat of Espírito Santo on 22 February 1785.

During the war between France and Spain (in 1801), Francisco da Silveira, along with other important people in the province, raised a voluntary corp, and as sergeant figured in the Monterei company, commanded by Gomes Freire de Andrade. He was rewarded by being assigned to the 6th Cavalry Regiment, first as sergeant, then as lieutenant commander on 14 March 1803.

Peninsular wars

Equestrian portrait, 1811, engraving by Raimundo Joaquim da Costa after an original drawing by João Baptista Ribeiro

He commanded the cavalry in 1807, when the Portuguese army was ordered to march from the borders to the coast. He was in Aveiro, when in December he was called to Coimbra to testify for the annihilation of the 6th, 9th, 11th and 12th regiments, by General Junot. With the fall of the monarchy in sight, he escaped to Porto in order to board an English ship, where he assumed that he would depart for Brazil. His plan foiled, he escaped to Vila Real, where he later became one of the factors in the acclamation of the legitimate government in 1808.

In March 1809 he led a force which carried out the successful Siege of Chaves from its French garrison. He kept the French from capturing Amarante from 18 April to 3 May 1809 during the second French invasion of Portugal. Driven out, he later recaptured the place and helped cut off the forces of Nicolas Soult, forcing the French marshal to abandon his artillery and wagon trains in order to escape. He commanded a Portuguese division in Arthur Wellesley, Marquess of Wellington's Allied army at the Battle of Vitoria on 21 June 1813.

References

• Gates, David (2002), The Spanish Ulcer: A History of the Peninsular War, London: Pimlico, ISBN 0-7126-9730-6
• Glover, Michael (2001), The Peninsular War 1807-1814, London (England), United Kingdom: Penguin, ISBN 0-14-139041-7
• Smith, Digby (1998), The Napoleonic Wars Data Book, London (England), United Kingdom: Greenhill Books, ISBN 1-85367-276-9
• Nobreza de Portugal e Brasil (in Portuguese), vol. III (II ed.), Lisbon, Portugal: Direcção de Afonso Eduardo Martins Zuquete/Editorial Enciclopédia, 1989, pp. 373–375