The Brazilian state of Mato Grosso was the focus of tenentist military conspiracies and the stage of a series of revolts in the 1920s: by the command of the Military Circumscription of Mato Grosso (CMMT), in Campo Grande in 1922, by the 10th Regiment of Independent Cavalry (10th RCI) of Bela Vista in 1924, and the 17th Battalion of Caçadores (17th BC) of Corumbá in 1925. Tenentist forces from other states also made incursions into Mato Grosso: the remnants from the São Paulo Revolt, in 1924, and the Prestes Column in 1925 and again in 1926–1927. A state of emergency was in force in the Mato Grosso from August 1924 until the end of 1925, and again from October 1926 to February 1927.
The government's traditional practice of transferring disobedient military personnel to Mato Grosso, added to the poor working conditions in the region, favored the support of its younger officers to the country's armed opposition to President Artur Bernardes, elected in 1922. Mato Grosso's political elite remained aligned with the federal government. In parallel with the Copacabana Fort revolt in Rio de Janeiro, on 5 July, General Clodoaldo da Fonseca gave in to pressure from his subordinates to form a "Provisional Revolutionary Division", but not all subordinate units joined it, and there was no civilian support. Government forces gathered on the opposite bank of the Paraná River, but news of the revolt's defeat in Rio de Janeiro prompted the general to hand over command without a fight.
The planning of the São Paulo Revolt two years later included parallel revolts in Mato Grosso, and one of them took place among the lieutenants of the 10th RCI on 12 July 1924, under the leadership of Riograndino Kruel and Pedro Martins da Rocha. The regiment's own sergeants staged a counter-revolt and arrested the lieutenants, at the cost of two wounded. The following month, rebels from São Paulo tried to occupy southern Mato Grosso and were repelled at the Battle of Três Lagoas, but moved South and continued to fight in the Paraná Campaign. Sergeants Antonio Carlos de Aquino and Adalberto Granja revolted the 17th BC on 27 March, resulting in two dozen injuries in fighting against loyalists from the Brazilian Army, Navy and civilians. The rebels in Paraná formed the Prestes Column and crossed Mato Grosso twice, on their way to Goiás, in May and June 1925, and from Goiás into exile, from October 1926 to February 1927.
The military environment in Mato Grosso At the beginning of the 1920s, armed struggles between local oligarchs in the state of Mato Grosso (which included current Mato Grosso do Sul at the time) had already passed; the distribution of public offices and political favors had appeased rival factions in the political elite. Internal conflicts were now of another character, promoted by the military. Mato Grosso was a traditional destination for disobedient military personnel. The punitive transfers and terrible working conditions favored the participation of the soldiers who served there in the broader tenentist movement. From 1922 onwards, southern Mato Grosso became a focus of tenentist conspiracy. Ideas comparable to those of the tenentists had already been visible in the revolt of the federal detachment of Ponta Porã in January 1921; Its leader, Lieutenant Heitor Mendes Gonçalves, declared himself against "political excesses and the practice of electoral fraud by the oligarchies in power".
Since 1921, the Brazilian Army units in the state were subordinate to the 1st Military Circumscription, better known by the population and the press as the Military Circumscription of Mato Grosso (CMMT). The circumscription was based in Campo Grande and commanded by a brigadier general. Its units comprised a Mixed Brigade whose commander was the same as the circumscription's. The strength of all complete units would number around 4,500 soldiers, but only the 16th, 17th and 18th Battalions of Caçadores (BCs), a group from the 11th Regiment of Horse Artillery (RAM) and the 10th Independent Cavalry Regiment (RCI) were minimally organized, and even so, with a lack of personnel.
Large sums of public money were spent on building new barracks, but the region's defense suffered from personnel and equipment shortages and routine payment delays of five months, sometimes as long as thirteen months. The development of the Brazilian nation-state in the region was visible in the use of telegraph and railway during the conflicts: reinforcements could arrive via the Northwestern Brazil Railway (NOB), but there were still branches to build and transport continued to depend on trucks and freighters. Until 1924, the CMMT did not have its own military trucks, and relied on private vehicles. The fighting brought investments to the CMMT, and in the following year both sides in the conflict used trucks, but they were still not enough to carry all the soldiers. Horses remained the fastest means of transport for large numbers of troops.
1922
Revolt of the Military Circumscription
The 1922 presidential election infuriated a segment of the Brazilian Army against the incumbent president, Epitácio Pessoa, his elected successor, Artur Bernardes, and the political system of Brazil's Old Republic that they represented. Young officers did not accept the results and wanted to prevent Bernardes from taking office. Once aware that general Joaquim Inácio Cardoso, commander of the CMMT, was preparing an uprising, the government dismissed him on 30 March. On 27 June, the newspaper Gazeta de Notícias, in Rio de Janeiro, announced that "the fruits of the propaganda and personal action of the old and restless general have now emerged and, even with his advice, the revolutionaries intend to act, starting in Ponta Porã, on the border with Paraguay, the military sedition with the uprising of the federal force stationed there. The federal government is now master of everything that happens in Mato Grosso".
General Cardoso's successor, Clodoaldo da Fonseca, took command on 5 July and gathered his officers together in the evening, sharing the news that a revolution had broken out with the support of most of the army, including the garrisons of São Paulo, Rio Grande do Sul, Bahia and Minas Gerais. In truth, however, the revolt was limited to Rio de Janeiro and Niterói and was already a failure. The interruption of telegraph and railway lines meant that officials in Mato Grosso were unaware of the revolt's failure in Rio de Janeiro. The commander of the circumscription was possibly aware of this and went ahead with the revolt for fear of a rebellion by his subordinates or because of the commitment made before his departure to Mato Grosso; his requests during the revolt for Senator Antônio Azeredo to be informed suggested that he did not know about the situation in Rio de Janeiro. Clodoaldo da Fonseca was related to Marshal Hermes da Fonseca, the older leader who had lent his prestige to the young officer movement in Rio de Janeiro. In a statement, Clodoaldo da Fonseca denied that he had ever intended to revolt when he took command, but news of Hermes' arrest would have made him believe that the uprising planned for the end of October had been brought forward.
The revolt's goal, in the words of the commander, was "without interrupting civil order, to force political leaders to agree to declare the presidential election null and void and nominate our candidates". A proclamation explained the revolt to the inhabitants of Mato Grosso and São Paulo. Support was massive among the CMMT officers; the environment found by general Clodoaldo upon arriving in Campo Grande was already rebellious, and after the revolt General Clodoaldo, two colonels, a lieutenant colonel, two majors, seven captains, three first lieutenants, and twelve second lieutenants would be removed from service in the region for their involvement. Clodoaldo da Fonseca's leadership was symbolic, as the initiative actually lay with the lieutenants. Lieutenant Grandville Belorophonte de Lima is named as the true leader of the movement.
The Provisional Revolutionary Division The CMMT formed the Provisional Liberation Division, organized into two brigades, receiving units from Campo Grande, Porto Murtinho and Ponta Porã. The main one was the 17th Battalion of Caçadores, under the interim command of lieutenant Joaquim Távora. It is difficult to quantify the amount of troops, but it was possibly between 800 and 1,000 men. The plan was to concentrate the forces in Três Lagoas, cross the Paraná River, enter São Paulo through Araçatuba and face the forces from São Paulo and allies in support of the tenentists in Rio de Janeiro.
The revolutionaries followed a plan, occupying public buildings and calling up reservists. In Corumbá, the military arsenal was broken into to provide weapons and uniforms to the conscripts, but the effort to create another battalion of caçadores was unsuccessful. The revolutionary authorities promised peace and the maintenance of the positions of state civil servants, but in several places they removed civil authorities and looted tax collection and money issuing bodies. Civilian support was limited, existing among supporters of the Republican Reaction. In Porto Murtinho it was larger, but martial law was applied. The movement had the appearance of a military revolt, without enthusiasm from the population.
To the north, in Cuiabá, state governor Pedro Celestino Corrêa da Costa remained loyal to Epitácio Pessoa, although the rebels expected his sympathy due to his connections with Senator Azeredo. In the 16th Battalion of Caçadores, based in the city, the commander delayed orders from the Minister of War to hand over his battalion to state command, but was replaced and the battalion was left outside the authority of Clodoaldo da Fonseca. The 10th Independent Cavalry Regiment (RCI), from Bela Vista, also did not participate. It was divided and its commander was against the revolt. The river monitor Pernambuco, from the Mato Grosso Flotilla, went to Ladário to help combat the revolt. The Minister of War praised the loyalty of the employees of the Post and Telegraph Company and the Northwestern Brazil Railway. They emptied the railway's water tanks to slow the journey and passed telegraphic communications to the loyalists, who managed to decipher the revolutionary plans.
Confrontation in the Paraná River The first train only left Campo Grande on 8 July. Upon arriving at Três Lagoas, the crossing point for the state of São Paulo, they discovered that railway employees had removed the ferry from trains and other ships, leaving them on the other bank of the river without essential parts. Even so, the revolutionaries took possession of a boat for 25 to 30 men, captured one, and built another. They positioned four 8-caliber Krupp cannons, taken from the Fort of Coimbra, at the mouth of the Sucuriú river, pointing towards the São Paulo bank.
On 10 July, colonel Tertuliano Potiguara was tasked with crushing the uprising. Brazil's president dismissed Clodoaldo da Fonseca on the 12th. Forces from the 2nd Military Region (including the 4th Battalion of Caçadores) and the Public Force of São Paulo moved to the Paraná River, on the Mato Grosso border. A squadron of three planes carried out reconnaissance. The Public Force contingent included 255 soldiers and 21 officers from its 2nd Infantry Battalion reinforcing colonel Potiguara, while the 4th Battalion, with 617 men, was in reserve in Bauru. The government's forces were concentrated near Três Lagoas, on the São Paulo side. A veteran of the First World War, in which he served in the French Army, colonel Potiguara prepared to cross the Paraná River under the cover of his artillery and machine guns.