A soldier at the age of thirteen, José de San Martín possessed a keen sense of strategy and tactics. He knew when to persevere and when to retreat. He gathered men to his side even when all looked hopeless.
He knew how to win.
The fifth child of Spaniards Juan de San Martín and Gregoria Matorras, he was born on February 25, 1778 in Yapeyu, a scenic area near present-day Paso de los Libres, in Corrientes province, Argentina. His father was a professional soldier and the government administrator of Yapeyu, formerly a Jesuit mission station in Guaraní Indian territory, then part of the Viceroyalty of Rio de la Plata.
In 1784, when San Martin was six years old, the family returned to Spain, and he was enrolled in the Real Seminario de Nobles in Madrid from 1785 until 1789. He met and formed a friendship with Bernardo O'Higgins, a lonely boy from Chile, several months his junior, with whom he would later make history.
