 Complete the following phrase:  Fourth son of a humble family of 14 children, he learned to read and write without regular studies. On May 1, 1823, with fifteen incomplete years, he enlisted as a volunteer in the Cavalry of the Legion of São Paulo, current 5th Mechanized Cavalry Regiment, and accompanied his fathers regiment in the fight against the Portuguese troops of Brigadier Álvaro Da Costa, stationed in Cisplatina present - day Uruguay, during the 