Tenentist revolts in Mato Grosso

The government's traditional practice of transferring disobedient military personnel to Mato Grosso, added to the poor working conditions in the region, favored the support of its younger officers to the country's armed opposition to President Artur Bernardes, elected in 1922.

Government forces gathered on the opposite bank of the Paraná River, but news of the revolt's defeat in Rio de Janeiro prompted the general to hand over command without a fight.

The following month, rebels from São Paulo tried to occupy southern Mato Grosso and were repelled at the Battle of Três Lagoas, but moved South and continued to fight in the Paraná Campaign.

Sergeants Antonio Carlos de Aquino and Adalberto Granja revolted the 17th BC on 27 March, resulting in two dozen injuries in fighting against loyalists from the Brazilian Army, Navy and civilians.

[5] Ideas comparable to those of the tenentists had already been visible in the revolt of the federal detachment of Ponta Porã in January 1921; Its leader, Lieutenant Heitor Mendes Gonçalves, declared himself against "political excesses and the practice of electoral fraud by the oligarchies in power".

[18] General Cardoso's successor, Clodoaldo da Fonseca, took command on 5 July and gathered his officers together in the evening, sharing the news that a revolution had broken out with the support of most of the army, including the garrisons of São Paulo, Rio Grande do Sul, Bahia and Minas Gerais.

[23] In a statement, Clodoaldo da Fonseca denied that he had ever intended to revolt when he took command, but news of Hermes' arrest would have made him believe that the uprising planned for the end of October had been brought forward.

[24] The revolt's goal, in the words of the commander, was "without interrupting civil order, to force political leaders to agree to declare the presidential election null and void and nominate our candidates".

[21] The CMMT formed the Provisional Liberation Division, organized into two brigades, receiving units from Campo Grande, Porto Murtinho and Ponta Porã.

[31] To the north, in Cuiabá, state governor Pedro Celestino Corrêa da Costa remained loyal to Epitácio Pessoa, although the rebels expected his sympathy due to his connections with Senator Azeredo.

Upon arriving at Três Lagoas, the crossing point for the state of São Paulo, they discovered that railway employees had removed the ferry from trains and other ships, leaving them on the other bank of the river without essential parts.

A veteran of the First World War, in which he served in the French Army, colonel Potiguara prepared to cross the Paraná River under the cover of his artillery and machine guns.

On 13 July, general Alberto Cardoso de Aguiar conferred with Clodoaldo da Fonseca at the Três Lagoas railway station, convincing him to unconditionally surrender in order to avoid bloodshed.

The arrests and desertions after July 1922 reduced the number of officers under his command,[31] and the remainder, in the general's definition, were "frankly rebellious", "avowedly sympathetic" or "without ardor for the cause of supporting the current government".

[42] His plans included joining units in Mato Grosso, with orders prepared for the garrisons of Coimbra, Corumbá, Campo Grande and Bela Vista.

[44] In response to the revolt in São Paulo, the army command in Mato Grosso called up reservists and began a large mobilization and concentration of troops in Campo Grande.

In his report he noted lieutenant Kruel's insistence, shortly after arriving in Campo Grande, that he be transferred to Bela Vista, thus being a likely emissary of the conspirators in São Paulo.

[58] In general Nepomuceno Costa's account, his telegrams were even sent to the rebels, exaggerating the situation of the loyalist troops, a stratagem that would have motivated the sergeants to start the counter-revolt.

The newspaper A Capital, apparently to belittle the commander's praise for the state governor and other figures, published an anonymous missive criticizing the conduct of loyalist operations.

They hoped to receive support, create the "Free State of the South" or "Brasilândia", financed with yerba mate exports, and continue the fight against the government taking advantage of the easy-to-defend geography.

[63] The Mato Grosso loyalists withdrew their forces in Bauru to Três Lagoas,[64] where they were reinforced by the detachment of colonel Malan d'Angrogne, with units from Minas Gerais.

[65] On 18 August, rebel commander Juarez Távora led a battalion in an offensive against Três Lagoas, suffering a defeat with high casualties south of the city, in the town of Campo Japonês.

The rest of the revolutionary army would still take some time to arrive; general Isidoro only disembarked in Guaíra, upstream from Foz do Iguaçu, on 15 October, and in the meantime, they were resisted by Mato Grosso loyalist irregulars on the way down the Paraná River.

[72] In October, general Costa handed over command of the Military Circumscription of Mato Grosso to colonel Malan, considering the effort to prevent the rebels from entering the state successful.

In general Malan d'Angrogne's account, the battalion commander, captain Luiz de Oliveira Pinto, "slept in a hammock, in an open room, in the barracks, such was his confidence in his men.

[76][82] Sergeant Granja hoped to obtain civilian support and hand over the direction of the revolt to colonel Fructuoso Mendes, head of the Military Enlistment Circumscription, as he was a known anti-Bernardes and had been arrested in 1922.

[85] The sergeant appeared alive in a report in the newspaper O Mato Grosso, published on 28 December 1930, according to the "revolutionary of 1924" he escaped on his way to execution, was presumed dead, took part in the Revolution of 1930 and reappeared in public.

[86] Once defeated in Paraná, the tenentists reorganized their 1st Revolutionary Division, better known as Prestes Column, and crossed Paraguayan territory to reenter Brazil, invading Mato Grosso.

[90] The loyalist headquarters in Campo Grande disagreed with the decision to abandon Ponta Porã and sent major Bertoldo Klinger to head the Detachment's General Staff, effectively assuming its command.

[98] On 10 February, a decree by the new president Washington Luís suspended the state of emergency in Goiás and Mato Grosso "because the armed revolt that had raged in Brazil since 1922 had been extinguished".