BAPTISM OF FIRE

On 13th June, 1927, around 5pm, a group of cangaceiros, led by Lampião, attacked the city of Mossoró, in Rio Grande do Norte. Mapped since they entrance in the potiguar’s territory, the cangaceiros’s trajectory was narrated by the press, especially by the newspaper O Mossoroense, as one battle between civilization versus barbarism. In the newspaper the placement of telegrams, letters and notes highlighted the expectation’s horizon about the famous bandit and presented in detail his crimes and achievement strategies. Taking the production and circulation of knowledge about the cangaceiros in O Mossoroense as a documentary reference, this article aims to create a reflection about the press in monumentalization of the attack and defense to Lampião, in the city of Mossoró.