The colorful, colonial houses adorned with ferns and orchids preserve the history of one of the region’s most important heroes: General José María Córdova (born in this beautiful town on September 8, 1799, assassinated in Santuario, Antioquia, on October 17, 1829). Without a doubt, he was the greatest strategist ever known by Bolívar’s army. This is why Concepción does not have a Plaza de Bolívar, unlike many towns in Colombia. The inhabitants know that El Libertador Bolívar ordered the death of General Córdova, because he opposed the monarchy that the founder of Gran Colombia sought to impose. His democratic vision was ended by an unpunished assassination.
José María Córdova is especially remembered for the Battle of Chorros Blancos, near Yarumal, where he managed to weaken the Spanish army so that later, in Boyacá, they could be definitively defeated by Bolívar. During his short life, he was the most outstanding general from Antioquia in the Independence period. His greatest moment came in the famous Battle of Ayacucho, when he defeated Viceroy José de la Serna, who commanded the royalist army. This victory secured the independence of Ecuador and Peru, led to the creation of Bolivia, and consolidated the independence of South America. For this reason, he went down in history as the “Hero of Ayacucho.” In that battle he launched his immortal cry: “Division: forward! Arms at will! Step of victors!”
As a sign of rebellion against the Spanish Crown, he changed the spelling of his father’s Spanish surname, Crisanto de Córdoba y Mesa, to Córdova. After covering himself in glory on the battlefield, General Córdova rose against the dictatorship of El Libertador Simón Bolívar, to whom he sent a historic letter explaining his decision to defend the Constitution of Cúcuta. The end of this episode was tragic. Facing the troops of General Daniel F. O’Leary, sent by Bolívar, in El Santuario, he was seriously wounded. In the house where he took refuge, he was finished off by the Irish commander Ruperto Hand, who dealt him several terrible saber blows.
