Independence and the Campaign against Vagrancy in the Province of Caracas, 1809

From mid-1808 to 1810, the Captain General of Venezuela needed to mobilize the local army extensively due to frequent rumors of a French naval invasion to the Province of Caracas. This paper argues that the efforts to maintain constant military mobilization, especially the urgent need to recruit new men, impinged significantly upon the local population. Specifically, I examine the 1809 Campaign against Vagrancy that attempted to fill vacancies in the Veteran and Artillery Battalions, traditional strongholds of European Spaniards, with local recruits. As a result, hundreds of white and pardo men, who resided in cities, towns, and hamlets throughout the Province, were brought in chains to the city of Caracas. The overflowing prisons housed these men until the Captain General hastily sentenced them up to eight years of military services or, if unfit for the army, to up to six years of public works. Further, the Captain General declared that the Royal Audiencia was not authorized to interfere in these judicial processes. Both the Captain General and the Royal Audiencia engaged in a public dispute over whether extraordinary military circumstances justified bypassing the Crown’s legislation, including Spaniards’ individual rights. The ensuing commotion significantly alienated popular and elite support for the local Spanish government. The Campaign against Vagrancy was entering its sixth month when the Creole elite overthrew the most important Spanish functionaries in April 1810. The local pressures of constant military mobilization, I believe, may account for the unexpected lack of support for Ferdinand’s representatives.