An exploration of women's involvement in the Latin American Wars of Independence

Bartolomé Mitre

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Buenos Aires, 1834

Bartolomé Mitre

Bartolomé Mitre

Gender:Male

Ethnic origen: White

Events:

Connections:

Biography:
Born in Argentina in 1821, he was the youngest member of the “Generación del 37”. He wrote for Unitarian newspapers in Montevideo in the 1840s. He widely read the Romantic authors especially Hugo, Lamartine, and Byron, but he became more interested in positivism. “Mitre often utilized the teachings of positivism, but he never became a true disciple.” In his youth Mitre wrote poems and a patriotic play, Cuatro Epocas, when he was 19, followed by 2 short novels: Soledad and Memorias de un botín de rosa. These are described as “unremarkable”. He contributed to many newspapers. This began during his time in exile in Uruguay. He was on the staff of El Iniciador when he was 17 and founded La Nación in 1870. His studies of Belgrano and San Martín were published in Buenos Aires, in 1867 and 1868. He became president of Argentina and died in 1906. (Robinson, 31, 58)

He married Delfina de Vedia, daughter of General Nicolás de Vedia, who was "a faithful companion and firm support of the home". She later translated "famous works". (Knaster, 518.)

Mitre wrote a play (a drama in verse) about "La Pola", Salavarrieta in Montevideo. His intention was to inflame Argentine patriotism and to denounce Rosas. In his version he decided not to have La Pola shot. The last act was her glorification and transfer to immortality in history. (Arciniegas, 89.)

He edited El Mercurio de Valparaiso in 1848. He knew Echeverría in Montevideo. Most of his poems were written before 1846. He wrote an Ode to General Lavalle, for whom he fought against Rosas in 1852. (Coester, 117)

He encouraged his sister, Edelmira Mitre, to read, giving her a copy of El espejo de las señoritas, a book about all types of housework. (Sosa de Newton, 415)

He reproduces a note written by several women in Tucumán in 1812 and reproduced in the Gaceta Minist, No. 12, 26 de junio de 1812 in which they offer to buy weapons for the patriots and ask for their names to be inscribed on them. He comments that when women show such sentiments the people will never be defeated. (Mitre, Obras completas, VII, 16-17)

References:

Arciniegas, Germán (1961) América mágica: II Las mujeres y las horas
Coester, Alfred (1919) The Literary History of Spanish America
Knaster, Meri (1977) Women in Spanish America: An Annotated Bibliography from Pre-Conquest to Contemporary Times
Mitre, Bartolomé (1940) Obras completas de Bartolomé Mitre
Robinson, John L. (1982) Bartolomé Mitre, Historian of the Americas
Sosa de Newton, Lily (1986) Diccionario biográfico de mujeres argentinas