Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Pumacahua, Matéo

PUMACAHUA, Matéo (poo-mah-cah'-wah), Peruvian insurgent, b. in Chinchero about 1760; d. in Sicuani, 17 March, 1815. He was cacique of his native tribe, but served with the royalists and aided in suppressing the revolution of 1780, headed by José Gabriel Condorcanqui. For his services he was appointed colonel of militia, and soon afterward he obtained the same rank in the army. At the beginning of the struggle for independence he served the royalists, and was appointed by the viceroy Abascal to maintain order in the province of Cuzco. With 3,500 men and the forces of another cacique, Manuel Choquehuanca, he pacified the whole territory, and Abascal recommended him to the king, who appointed him brigadier in 1811. In 1812, during an absence of Gen. Goyeneche, the viceroy appointed Pumacahua temporary governor of upper Peru and president of the royal audiencia. A sudden change now took place in his opinions, and when the revolution in Cuzco under José and Vicente Angulo began, 3 Aug., 1814, Pumacahua took part in it, and was appointed a member of the governing junta. On 9 Nov., in command of a division, he attacked and defeated the forces that defended the province of Arequipa, and took possession of the city. But on the 30th of the same month he left that place and went to Cuzco, and meanwhile Gen. Ramirez occupied the city. After two months' sojourn, occupied in organizing his forces and casting cannon, Pumacahua, at the approach of Ramirez, took up a strongly fortified position near Umachiri, which was stormed on 11 March, 1815. Pumacahua was totally defeated, and soon afterward hanged by order of Ramirez.