1st Lieutenant João Cabanas (seated, looking at the camera) commandeering his 75mm Cannon, during the 1924 Revolution.
João Cabanas was another one of those interesting characters of Brazilian history formed by the political turmoil of the 1920s, alongside the likes of Juarez Távora, Eduardo Gomes, Carlos Prestes, Filinto Müller and others.
He born in 1895 in the state of São Paulo, son of two spanish immigrants. He studied in the officers school of his home state and ingressed in the Public Force of São Paulo (a specie of state army, at the time on par with the National Army), becoming 1st Lieutenant of the Cavalry Regiment. When in 1924 exploded a revolt of military elements, with the objective of deposing the government of president Artur Bernardes, Cabanas joined up with the rebels. The seditious forces would occupy the state capital of São Paulo for three whole weeks, turning the city in a stage for bloody street fighting and aerial bombings. Cabanas led his unit of 15 soldiers in the taking and defense of the Luz railway station, which they would be able to hold for four days. But the continuous fighting and superior forces of the loyalists exacted a heavy toll over the rebels, who ended having to retreat from the city.
Cabanas stayed behind and formed his so called "Coluna da Morte" (Column of Death), to fight delaying actions in the interior of the state and cover the rearguard of the column led by Major Miguel Costa. Between other things, the Column of Death would be responsible for storming the city of Itu and the siege of Catanduvas - it was also acussed of barbarism, vandalism, pillaging and raping. Was at this point that folktales started to arise over Cabanas figure. The people would tell of his "superhuman powers", spectacular escapes and military exploits, all with an aura covered in a kind of mysticism. People would tell of how bullets would pass through his body without causing any harm, how he was able to jump from roof-to-roof in incredibly distances, and how (bear with me, now) Saint George himself gave him his white steed to help him breakout of a military encirclement. This was all obviously just a product of the easily impressionable and superstitious nature of the people at the time. But apparently Cabanas was able to capitalize on his new status to intimidate enemies and bluff his way around the country. This also made the government put a considerable bounty for his head.
He and his column would be able to reach Uruguay, where he took exile. He did not joined the Prestes Column, like how the majority of the other rebels from the 1920s did. Nonetheless, he would come back to Brazil to partake in the Revolution of 1930 led by Getúlio Vargas, which deposed the president Washington Luís and put a definitive end to the Old Republic. In 1932, he would support the revolt of the state of São Paulo against the Vargas government. The revolt was defeated after heavy fighting, and Cabanas was jailed for a short period. After that, he joined the Brazilian Socialist Party of São Paulo, and in 1934 helped in the formation of the "Aliança Nacional Libertadora" (National Liberation Alliance), a loose antifascist organization that aside from throwing punches with integralists (Brazilian fascists) in the streets also tried to help in the Comunist Revolt of 1935, which ended badly for them.
Despite having had part in two revolts against Vargas and making opposition to his eight years dictatorship, Cabanas supported Vargas presidential candidacy in 1950, and joined his party, the PTB. Legally, he had a very mediocre political career, only being able to reach a supplementary seat as congressman, that he filled for just a bit more than a year. He died in his home state, in 1974.
Two of the books that Cabanas would write were "Os Fariseus da Revolução" (The Pharisees of the Revolution) in 1932, criticizing some of his colleagues from the 1930 Revolution, and "A Coluna da Morte: Sob o Comando do Tenente Cabanas" (The Column of Death: Under the Command of Lieutenant Cabanas) back in 1928, narrating aspects of the Column's campaign. The latter got a new edition recently, in 2014, by the publisher of the São Paulo State University.
Curiously, nowadays he is not only well regarded by members of the Brazilian left, but also by the Military Police of the state of São Paulo - which certainly feels a bit contradictory. Some Brazilian military historians also consider him to be the first to employ psychological warfare in Brazil.