Pedro formed a new government headed by José Bonifácio de Andrade e Silva, a former royal official and professor of science at the University of Coimbra who was a formative figure in Brazilian nationalism, and known as the "Patriarch of Independence". Following Prince Pedro's decision to defy the Cortes, Portuguese troops rioted, then concentrated in the area of Mount Castello, which was soon surrounded by thousands of armed Brazilians. Pedro dismissed the Portuguese commanding general, General Jorge Avilez, and ordered him to remove his soldiers across the bay to Niterói, where they would await transportation to Portugal. Blood was also shed in Recife, Province of Pernambuco, when the Portuguese garrison was forced to depart in November 1821. In mid-February 1822, Brazilians in Bahia revolted against the Portuguese forces there, but were driven into the countryside, where they began guerrilla operations, signaling that the struggle in the north would not be without loss of life and property.