 The downfall of the monarchy in 1889 brought sudden changes in how past events were viewed . The Ragamuffins were reframed as heroes in Rio Grande do Sul , and Porto Alegre became an awkward reminder and symbol of the fallen regime . The memories of other imperial officers , Porto Alegre 's contemporaries , were subject to the same sort of revisionism , including the Duke of Caxias . After Porto Alegre 's death a marble tablet with the inscription " Here was born the worthy Count of Porto Alegre " was put at the entrance of the house where he was born . The plaque was removed in 1893 by the property 's owner and left to deteriorate . In the late 1890s , historian <unk> Ferreira Rodrigues lamented that it was the " testimony of one day 's passing gratitude and of the indifference , of the abandonment , of the ingratitude , in which we [ Brazilians ] , a people without civic education , know how to prize the services of the great men of the past . " Although the Brazilian army remembered Caxias and celebrated his centennial in 1903 , Porto Alegre 's centennial in 1904 passed unnoticed . 
