Solano was one of the three captains-general slain by the Spanish population following the Madrid Uprising (2 May 1808), the two others being Filanghieri in Galicia and Count Torre del Fresno in Estremadura.
[2] In October 1802, Solano was promoted to lieutenant general and in November 1805 he was appointed military governor of Cádiz,[2] where he set up free schools based on the methods of the Swiss pedagogue and educational reformer Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi.
[2] In 1807, following the signing of the Treaty of Fontainebleau, allowing for the invasion of Portugal, Solano led one of the three auxiliary Spanish corps that aided General Junot's Army of the Gironde in invading that country.
Setting out from Badajoz with 9,500 troops,[1] Solano was to take the garrison town of Elvas and then to march on Lisbon along the left bank of the Tagus.
Escaping an initial attempt on his life, he took refuge at a friend's house, from which he was captured and led to an improvised gallows.