Casimiro Alegre

Casimiro Alegre (1741–1825) was an Argentine militia officer and politician. He had an outstanding political and military participation during the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, serving as alcalde of campaign in the Province of Buenos Aires. And as Commandant in the Regiment of Blandengues of the Frontier of Buenos Aires.

Biography
Casimiro Alegre was baptized on April 19, 1741 in the Parish San Nicolás de Bari, being his godparents Ramón López de Osornio and Margarita Sosa. His parents were Matias Alegre and Francisca Sosa, belonging to a Creole family of Asunción. His father, Matias, was devoted to livestock, owned a ranch in Zárate northeast of the province of Buenos Aires. Casimiro Alegre was married to Anastacia Espinosa, daughter of Francisco Antonio Espinosa and Francisca Ramírez, belonging to a family descendants of the first settlers of Buenos Aires. The marriage ceremony was held in the Chapel of Morón by the priest Juan Antonio Merlo.

His wife was a direct descendant of a Spanish conquistador originally from Burgos Mountains. Among his illustrious ancestors were prominent Río de la Plata officials, including Antón Higueras de Santana, Toribio de Peñalva and Juan de Garay y Becerra). Casimiro Alegre was a descendant of Esteban Alegre, a Criollo who had attended the foundation of Buenos Aires by Juan de Garay. The founder of the Alegre family in the Río de la Plata had been Luis Alegre, a conqueror and expeditionary of Flemish origin, who arrived in the expedition of Pedro de Mendoza.

Casimiro Alegre and Anastacia Espinosa had nine sons Agustina, Juana Ventura, Juan Napomuceno, Ramón Florencio, Cipriano (born in St Cyprian's day of 1788), Francisco Javier (military), Cornelio, Mariano and Saturnino Alegre, who were powerful landowners of the centre-east of Buenos Aires. A great-granddaughter of Casimiro Alegre, Angélica Fortunata Andrade, daughter of Juan Manuel de Andrade and Domitila Alegre, was married in the parish of Balvanera to Sinforoso Canaveri, notary mayor of the Government of the province of Buenos Aires, between 1903 and 1929.

Other families linked to the Alegre family were the Cook, Gilardoni Thompson, Keller, López Osornio, Miller, Sosa, de la Rosa, Rivas, Roberto and Sorayre. They had large land possessions in the towns of San Vicente and Cañuelas. In 1837, Saturnino Alegre Espinosa, sold a plot of 225 hectares to its neighbor Hannah Brocksopp, a female landowner of English origin.

Casimiro was grandfather of Victoriano Alegre owner of a warehouse located in the neighborhood of Monserrat for the year 1870. He also was the ancestor of Tomás Alegre Manzanares, an officer who served in the Argentine Navy (deceased in 1911).

Militia career
Casimiro Alegre had chosen a militia career under the influence of his grandfather the Sergeant major, Bernabé Alegre husband of Potenciana Paredes, a Creole woman, descendant of Francisco de Paredes. He began his military career at the age of nineteen or twenty, serving in the Guardia del Juncal, a fortress built in the town of Cañuelas to prevent the advance of the Indians.

In 1777, Casimiro Alegre led a caravan of fifteen carts, which were to transport three hundred wooden posts for the repair the Fort of Monte, being also the responsible for the construction of the barracks on the shores of Laguna of Monte, an area populated by rebellious Indians. In 1779, he was promoted to Lieutenant of militia and appointed Captain in 1780. That same year he was appointed alcalde of the campaign in the town of Magdalena. He lent his oath on February 12, 1780 before the dean councilor of the Cabildo de Buenos Aires Don Gregorio Ramos Mexía.

Casimiro Alegre served in the expeditions against the Portuguese in the Banda Orienta del Uruguay, having an active participation during the Spanish–Portuguese War.

The night of August 27, 1780, in Luján there had been an Indians attack composed of thousands of pampas warriors. The Consejo de guerra of Buenos Aires had appointed to Captain Casimiro Alegre, to lead the punitive expeditions against raids. These military expeditions were properly equipped with flintlocks, carbines, pistols, lances and sabers. In the decades of 1780 and 1790 Casimiro Alegre served as alcalde de la hermandad in the towns of Almirante Brown (current territory), San Vicente, Magdalena and La Matanza (three times-1790, 1795, 1796). The alcaldes had to fulfill both administrative, judicial and also policial functions, dedicating themselves to the persecution of bandits in the rural areas of the province.

On September 16, 1795 Alegre was commissioned by the Viceroy, Pedro Melo de Portugal to make the appraisal of a land located in the current territory of Marcos Paz.

During the British invasion, the Capt. Casimiro Alegre served in the Regimiento Voluntarios de Caballería de la Frontera, formed with volunteers of Buenos Aires province, including militias of Magdalena, Quilmes, Ranchos and Chascomús. His son Francisco Javier Alegre, served as Alférez in the 1° Regimiento de Caballería de la Frontera (1st Cavalry Regiment).

Casimiro Alegre supported the May Revolution of 1810. He and his son Francisco had collaborated to buy horses, for the First Upper Peru campaign. And made available to the authorities of Buenos Aires, his whole regiment of militias, including all personal staff of his ranch of San Vicente.

In the year of 1814, Captain Casimiro Alegre continued to serve in the militias of the city of San Vicente. He was retired from the Argentine Army as Sergeant major, Commandant in the 1st Company of urban militias of San Vicente, province of Buenos Aires in 1817.

The provincial militias were conformed with landowners, officers and soldiers of militias and gauchos. And were initially dedicated to the control of the indigenous attacks in the province of Buenos Aires. Years later these militias participated in the Argentine Civil Wars.