Luis Lopes by junge1

Photography • Military • posted on Aug 26, 2011

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Description

This statue of Luis Lopes is located on the southeast corner of Rua Garcia d'Avila and Rua Visconde de Piraja in Ipanema. When I saw this small statue, obviously of some sort of military action, it caught my attention. Normally statues of military men are often showing them riding horses or some other way showing their importance. But this little, insignificant looking man blowing a trumpet piqued my curiosity. Who was he? There was a brass plague on the post explaining the statue, but of course I couldn't read it. I took a picture of this plaque and once back home I tried to make sense of it. I noticed a couple of names and a date and put them into the computer and here is what I found via a translated version of Wikipedia. The Battle of Piraja in the Province of Bahia occurred on November 8, 1822. In this battle Portuguese Forces fought the Peacemaker Army of Brazil. The Portuguese were under the command of Captain Inacio Luis Madeira de Melo and the Brazilian Peacemaker Army was led by French General Pierre Labatut. At one point the battle wasn't going too well for the Brazilians Peacemaker Army and, according to a statement by Tobias Monteiro in his 'The Development of Independence' in which Major Barros Falcao, who led the Brazilian troops at one point, ordered his bugler to blow a retreat. The bugler however, Luis Lopes, on his on accord blew 'Cavalry, forward and beheaded' instead. This frightened the Portuguese, they panicked and retreated, encouraging the Brazilians who attacked with renewed enthusiasm and won the battle. Ironically the charge blown was for the cavalry but there was no Brazilian cavalry in battle. This battle was one of several that eventually led to the independence of Brazil. This picture was taken on 19 June 2011, Sig.. Thanks for visiting and commenting! Weather update for Phoenix, Arizona: Todays High: 117F (47.2C) the highest for August ever Todays Low: 93F (33.9C) also a record. Average high for August so far: 107F (41.7C) Average low for August so far: 88F (31.1C) Precipitation since beginning of year at my house: 1.5 inches (3.81cm) High this year in Phoenix: 118F (47.8C) July 2