Ignacio de Balderes

Ignacio de Balderes 
Attributed to José Francisco Xavier de Salazar y Mendoza 
c. 1790 
Oil on canvas, 45 1/2 x 33 1/2 inches 
Louisiana State Museum, Gift of Mr. Harvey Truxillo, M141.2

Born in Salamanca, Spain, in 1757, Balderes entered military service as a private at the age thirteen as a private. He was sent to West Florida to work as a surveyor and rose through the ranks. As a sergeant in 1779, he earned distinction by capturing a post at Pass Manchac during the Battle of Galvez-Town. Balderes was knighted by the king of Spain and given a large land grant near Pensacola. 

Salazar painted many of Colonial Louisiana's prominent citizens, figures associated with the government, the military, and the church. Well-versed in the late Baroque style popular in Spanish colonies, Salazar was the first significant painter to work in New Orleans

In the early 1790s, Balderes was a Sub-Lieutenant of the Grenadiers, Second Battalion of the Regiment of Louisiana, and commander at Balize, an outpost guarding the mouth of the Mississippi River. The single epaulette - which is in the Museum's collection - indicates his rank as a lieutenant. Balderes was respected for his zeal and leadership. Francisco Bouligny, his commander, wrote "I believe it is always fitting to provide officers of well-known courage, good conduct, assiduity and who are intelligent" with promotion when he became adjutant-major of the Third Battalion in 1793. Balderes eventually reached the rank of captain in 1798, and died in 1815 at the age of fifty-eight.

His son Antoine became a lieutenant as well.  His children married into many families of Louisiana.

References
1. Diocese of Baton Rouge Catholic Church Records, Department of Archives, v3, p66, Lafayette Public Library, 301 W. Congress St., Lafayette, LA 70501.

2. Holmes, Jack D. L., Honor and Fidelity: The Louisiana Infantry Regiment and the Louisiana Militia Companies, 1766-1821, Birmingham, AL, 1965, p92, University of Louisiana at Lafayette Edith Garland Dupre Library, PO Box 40199, Lafayette LA 70504.

3. Charles E. Nolan, editor, Sacramental Records of the Roman Catholic Church of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, Vol 3, 1772-1783, p12, Lafayette Public Library, 301 W. Congress St., Lafayette, LA 70501, LA 929.376335 WOO.

4. Churchill, C. Robert, Officers, Spanish and Natives of Louisiana, serving under Gen. Don Bernardo de Galvez in his Campaign Against the British, 1779, 1780, 1781, p11, Tulane University Library, Howard-Tilton Memorial Library, 7001 Freret St, , New Orleans, LA 70118, Ph:(504) 865-5605.

5. Granville W Hough, Spain's Louisiana patriots in its 1779-1783 war with England during the American Revolution, Midway City, CA, SHHAR Press, 2000, p29, Tulane University Library, Howard-Tilton Memorial Library, 7001 Freret St, , New Orleans, LA 70118, Ph:(504) 865-5605.