1962 he was officially designated the army's protectorits soldierly ideal and the most important figure in its tradition. Historians have regarded Caxias positively, several ranking him as the greatest of Brazil's military officers. Early years Birth Luís Alves de Lima e Silva was born on 25 August 1803 on a farm called São Paulo (today within the city of Duque de Caxias) located in Rio de Janeiro, then a captaincy (later province) of the Portuguese colony of Brazil. He was the first son and second of ten children of Francisco de Lima e Silva and Mariana Cândido de Oliveira Belo. His godparents were his paternal grandfather, José Joaquim de Lima da Silva, and his maternal grandmother, Ana Quitéria Joaquina. Luís Alves's early years were spent on the São Paulo farm owned by his maternal grandfather and namesake, Luís Alves de Freitas. The young boy may have initially been schooled at home, as was common then. He may have been taught to read and write by his grandmother, Ana Quitéria. Luís Alves's grandfather, José Joaquim, was a Portuguese military officer who had emigrated in 1767 to Brazil. He settled in the city of Rio de Janeiro, capital of both the Rio de Janeiro captaincy and of Brazil. He had neither noble rank nor noble ancestry and lacked patrons in an environment in which advancement depended upon exchanges of favors and family connections. Having fought against the Spaniards on Brazil's southern frontiers, he secured a place for himself in Rio de Janeiro's upper class when he married a member of a local and influential family. The arrival of the Portuguese Royal Family in Rio de Janeiro in 1808 changed the lives of the Lima family. King Dom João VI embarked upon a series of wars of conquest which resulted in the expansion of Brazil's territory with the annexation of Cisplatina to the south and of French Guiana to the north. By 1818, Luís Alves's relatives, who were military officers and had served in the wars, had been ennobled. His grandfather, José Joaquim, became a member of the Order of Christ and Fidalgo Cavaleiro da Casa Real (Knight Nobleman of the Royal House). His father, Francisco de Lima, and uncles were also granted honors. Within two generations, the Lima family had risen from mere commoners to the ranks of Portugal's untitled nobility. Military education On 22 May 1808, Luís Alves was enlisted at