>>48288
>They really were ready for governing? Or were there civilian politicians whom they would back to do that?
They backed Nilo Peçanha, losing candidate in the elections, and could just place him in power. Nilo himself was a former president and had fanned the flames of military unrest, but was not one of the plotters and merely hoped to pressure Congress to review the election's results. If he refused, they could grant power to Hermes da Fonseca, who was also a former president.
>They had guts
All 11 of them, hundreds of other rebels had chickened out by then. But their suicidal, jihadist/samurai/chivalric -like defiance became mythical. Both lieutenant survivors were major figures in the following rebellions. Siqueira Campos perished in a plane crash in 1930, while Eduardo Gomes had long and prestigious political and military careers.
>What would had they faced if they surrendered? Firing squad?
No executions, they were promised their lives would be spared if they surrendered. There were hundreds of prisoners, and many more in the nonstop rebellions in 1924-1927 spawned by this early attempt. They were prosecuted in civilian and military courts, expelled from the military and transferred around a number of prisons, often in dreary conditions. Besides regular locations, some were taken to the labor camp near French Guyana, and others, to remote Atlantic islands. There were daring escape attempts. Many went underground under fake names or into exile, dedicating themselves to plotting new uprisings.