This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (June 2024) |
Emmanuel Roërgas de Serviez | |
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Born | May 16, 1785 Cutry, Meurthe-et-Moselle, Kingdom of France |
Died | November 30, 1816 Apure, Venezuela | (aged 31)
Allegiance | ![]() ![]() |
Service/ | French Army Army of the Union |
Years of service | 1798–1809 (France) 1813–1816 (New Granada) |
Rank | Brigadier General |
Unit | Army of Italy, Army of the South |
Commands | Army of the North |
Battles/wars | Colombian Independence War |
Emmanuel Roërgas de Serviez (Cutry (Meurthe-et-Moselle), May 16, 1785 – Apure, November 30, 1816), known by the Hispanicized name of Manuel Roergas de Serviez, was a French soldier and adventurer who participated in the wars of independence in South America.
Born to a noble family in France,[1] Serviez served in the French Army during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars. In 1809 he left the French army and would later end up in South America participating in the Venezuelan and Colombian wars of independence.
He became a colonel in the army of the United Provinces of New Granada and played a pivotal part in the Patriot army victory at the Battle of the Palo River. He would later be named commander of the armies of the republic during the Spanish reconquest of New Granada in 1816, he disobeyed government orders to retreat to the south and instead withdrew with what was left of the Patriot army to the eastern plains of the Casanare Province, saving many of the officers that would later be pivotal in the war such as Francisco de Paula Santander and José María Córdova from capture and execution by the Spanish. Upon arriving there he joined up with the Venezuelan army and contributed to the victory at the Battle of Hato Yagual.
Serviez was killed in suspicious circumstances by a group of 3 men in the plains of Venezuela. It has often been suspected that Venezuelan caudillo José Antonio Páez ordered him to be killed.
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