Portrait of Marshal Hermes da Fonseca

Hermes Rodrigues da Fonseca was born in São Gabriel, RS, on May 12, 1855, son of Hermes Ernesto da Fonseca and Rita Rodrigues Barbosa da Fonseca. He entered the Praia Vermelha Military School in 1871 and completed the Artillery course in 1874. He was a battery commander of the 2nd Regiment, member of the Brigada de Benjamin Constant, in 1889. In 1891 he was appointed Commander of the 2nd Regiment stationed in RJ. In 1903, he temporarily assumed the head of the RJ Police, during the Campos Sales government, and, in 1904, the command of the Realengo School of Tactics and Preparatory, in Rio de Janeiro. He was then designated Commander of the 4th Military District. In the government of Afonso Pena, he was assigned to the Ministry of War during the period 1906/1909. He carried out the re-equipment of the Armed Forces, divided the country into inspection regions and asked Congress for the laws of conscription and military lottery. He was one of the founders of the Conservative Republican Party, in 1910. That same year, he was elected and sworn in as President of the Republic, whose term lasted until 1914. He was married to Orsina Francioni da Fonseca, with whom he had six children, and in second marriages, with Nair de Tefé Von Hoonholtz. He died in Petrópolis, RJ, on September 9, 1923.