Miguel José Cambiaso (also spelled Cambiazo) rose from the ranks to artillery lieutenant. He came to Punta Arenas with the garrison, and with a stained record: in Valdivia, Navy historians say, he had tried to kill his wife.
In the colony he quarrelled with his captain, drew his sword and was put under arrest in the soldiers' barracks. On 21 November 1851 he seized the barracks with the troops and with sergeants exiled after April's failed revolt, and declared for General José María de la Cruz against President Montt. He burned the church, the hospital and the governor's house. He captured the American barque Florida and the British brig Elisa Cornish, which was carrying gold bars, and had several of the men aboard shot. Governor Benjamín Muñoz Gamero he had shot in the back.
In early 1852 he sailed off in the captured ships. Before leaving he had four Indigenous servants speared to death and the town set on fire: of 52 houses, 14 were left standing. His own men overpowered him at the mouth of the Strait. He was shot in Valparaíso on 4 April 1852.
