São Paulo Revolt of 1924 in the interior
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The interior of São Paulo was the scene of the São Paulo Revolt of 1924 from July, parallel to the battle for the city of São Paulo, until August and September, when the rebels left the capital and headed for the state border, first to the south of Mato Grosso and then to Paraná. There is record of revolt in 87 municipalities and support for the revolt in another 32. Local political factions joined one side or the other in the conflict, the impact of which was felt even in municipalities never traversed by the revolutionary army.
Municipal political leaders were aligned with the Republican Party of São Paulo and tended to be against the revolt, even mobilizing their voters in patriotic battalions to defend the cause of the state and federal governments. The center of state power was occupied by the rebels, and local dissidents found opportunities to seize power and install governments favorable to the revolt, either on their own initiative or allied with the rebels. Regardless of the side, the city halls needed to deal with a climate of disorder and accommodate hundreds of thousands of refugees from the capital. On 9 July, the rebels controlled Itu, Jundiaí and Rio Claro, taken by local units of the Brazilian Army, and Campinas, one of the most important cities in the state. The government had firm, from the beginning, the connection with Paraná, from Itararé to Itapetininga, the Paraíba valley and the Baixada Santista.
Three loyalist brigades came from Paraná, Mato Grosso and Minas Gerais to besiege the capital; against them the rebels sent three detachments. The Minas Gerais brigade was defeated on the Mogiana Railway by João Cabanas' "Death Column". The Mato Grosso brigade took too long to move, allowing the rebels to capture Bauru, a crucial railway junction. 300 soldiers of the Public Force of São Paulo who could have defended Bauru had been sent away by their commander on 10 July, after the state government withdrew from the Campos Elíseos Palace. The loyalist offensive was only successful on the Sorocabana Railway, where the "Southern Column" won the battles of Pantojo and Mairinque. It was already about to cut the only rail link from São Paulo to Campinas when the revolutionary command left the city with all of its army on the night of 27 July. Therefore, this campaign in the interior was fundamental for the outcome of the fight in the capital.
The withdrawal went in the direction of the Paraná River, on the border with Mato Grosso. As the railway connection through Três Lagoas was occupied, the rebels turned around Botucatu and headed to Presidente Epitácio, which was reached by the vanguard on 6 August. Along the entire route, the loyalists of the Southern Column, commanded by general Azevedo Costa, followed in their wake, fighting several battles. From Botucatu onwards, the rearguard of the rebels was defended by the Death Column, which destroyed the railway infrastructure to slow down the enemy. In the forefront, a rebel battalion entered Mato Grosso, where it was defeated in the battle of Três Lagoas on 18 August. There remained the option of going down the river and settling in western Paraná. On 10 September, all the rebels had already left Presidente Epitácio, but the descent of the river was slow, and it was not until October that all of them reached Paraná, where the campaign lasted until 1925.