Louis Peru de Lacroix

Louis Peru de Lacroix (14 September 1780 - 1837), was a French general who battled in the army of Napoleón I and later travelled to Colombia, where he joined the army of Simón Bolívar. He is famous for his biographical work of Bolivar, "El Diario de Bucaramanga", a valuable source of information for historians about Bolivar's beliefs and private life.

Life

Peru de Lacroix was born in Montelimart, France. His full name was Count Jean Louis Michel Perou de LaCroix Massier, and his parents were Jean Baptiste Lorence Agricol Peru and Jeanne Massier. Both of them had family roots in Ajaccio, Corsica, of Genoese ancestry, who often traveled to Portugal.

Peru de Lacroix studied in a military school in Brienne-le-Château. Later, was admitted to the École Royale Militaire de Paris and lived in Naples between 1810 and 1812. Performed as General under Napoleón I and Joachim Murat, and also took part in the campaign against Russia in 1812.

In 1816 traveled to América, where he took part in Simon Bolivar's marine. Then, in 1823, was invited by Bolivar to join his army, and as a confidant and a right hand man he accompanied Bolívar in Bucaramanga during the Convención de Ocaña. In the year 1828, as a result of his conversations with Bolivar, Louis Peru de LaCroix wrote "El Diario de Bucaramanga".

He married in January 25, 1825, in Tunja (Boyacá) to Dolores Mutis Amaya, grand niece of José Celestino Mutis and had three children: Sofía de Santa Cruz, Hortensia and Luis Manuel. Only one of them, Hortensia, married and had descendency. Today, Peru de Lacroix's direct descendants and relatives live in Colombia and northern Mexico, the United States of America and in Western Europe.

Bibliography

RESTREPO, José Manuel [et.al] , Genealogías de Santafé de Bogotá, Editorial Gente Nueva, Santafé de Bogotá, 1995, Tomo IV.

LACROIX, Louis Peru de, Diario de Bucaramanga: vida pública y privada del Libertador Simón Bolívar, Editorial Bedout S.A, Medellín, 1964, 10ª edición.