Sandoval, José León (1789–1854)
Sandoval, José León (1789–1854)
José León Sandoval (b. 1789, d. October 1854), supreme director (chief of state) of Nicaragua (4 April 1845–24 July 1846). A mestizo descendant of the conquistador Gonzalo de Sandoval, Sandoval was a justice of the peace at the close of the colonial period in his native Granada, but he also worked in transporting goods on Lake Nicaragua and the Río San Juan. Resentful of the privileges of Spanish officials and wealthier creoles, Sandoval supported independence from Spain and then opposed Nicaraguan incorporation into Iturbide's Mexican Empire. In 1825 he became jefe político of Granada and later served in other government positions while rising in military rank.
A fervent unionist, he also served Francisco Morazán's federal government in San Salvador. He was supreme director of Nicaragua during the violent struggles among the caudillos Francisco Malespín, José María Valle, José Trinidad Muñoz, and Bernabé Somoza. Although a liberal, Sandoval remained loyal to the elected governments, and under the conservative Fruto Chamorro, he directed Granada's defense against the siege begun in May 1854 by Máximo Jérez. Brigadier General Sandoval died in this defense and was buried in Granada.
See alsoNicaragua .
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Emilio Álvarez, Ensayo biográfico del prócer José León Sandoval (1947).
Ralph Lee Woodward Jr.