Aware of the anarchy in Rio Grande do Sul and the incapacity and incompetence of its military chiefs to resist the Paraguayan army, Pedro II decided to go to the front in person. Upon receiving objections from the cabinet, the General Assembly and the Council of State, Pedro II pronounced: "If they can prevent me from going as an Emperor, they cannot prevent me from abdicating and going as a Fatherland Volunteer"—an allusion to those Brazilians who volunteered to go to war and became known throughout the nation as the "Fatherland Volunteers". The monarch himself was popularly called the "Number-one volunteer". Given permission to leave, Pedro II disembarked in Rio Grande do Sul in July and proceeded from there by land. He travelled overland by horse and wagon, sleeping at night in a campaign tent. In September, Pedro II arrived in Uruguaiana, a Brazilian town occupied by a besieged Paraguayan army.