The Death Column (Portuguese: Coluna da Morte) was a military unit in the São Paulo Revolt of 1924, part of the tenentist forces in arms against the president of Brazil, Artur Bernardes. Commanded by João Cabanas, an officer of the Public Force of São Paulo, the column went on campaign on 19 July 1924, fighting loyalist forces in São Paulo and Paraná until the end of April 1925, when its commander left the revolutionary forces. Column members continued to fight as part of the Miguel Costa-Prestes Column. The denomination of "Death Column" was never official, and among the revolutionaries it was called "the battalion" or, after August 1924, the "5th Battalion of Caçadores", subordinated to the 3rd Brigade, commanded by Miguel Costa.
The column initially had 95 men from the Public Force (the "state army") of São Paulo, growing over time by incorporating civilian volunteers and prisoners. Its first mission was on the Mogiana Railway, as part of the campaigns in the interior of São Paulo. Loyalists commanded by general Martins Pereira threatened to take Campinas and cut off access to the interior by the rebels in the city of São Paulo. Applying the principles of psychological and maneuver warfare, Cabanas conquered Mogi Mirim and defeated numerically superior forces from the Public Force of Minas Gerais and irregular "patriotic battalions".
After the withdrawal of the bulk of the revolutionaries from the capital of São Paulo, on 28 July, the "Death Column" was tasked with defending the rear of the rebels as they traveled along the Sorocabana Railway to the Paraná River. On the way, the column sabotaged the railway infrastructure to slow the loyalist advance and had several skirmishes with the government troops that followed at its heels. At the end of October, with the revolutionaries settled in the extreme west of Paraná, the Death Column defended their flank on the Piquiri River. Its greatest achievement in the Paraná campaign was in Formigas, on 21 January 1925, when it opened a path through the forest and launched a surprise attack on the rear of the loyalists who were attacking Catanduvas. The column was not destroyed by the final loyalist offensive against Catanduvas on 27 March, and it took part in the revolutionaries' retreat to Paraguay; however, João Cabanas was already too ill to continue and left command, an act execrated by his comrades.
The column's achievements had great repercussions in the popular imagination and in the government press, creating a myth around Cabanas. A charismatic leader for his troops, righteous with his supporters and intimidating for his enemies, Cabanas was characterized by government supporters as a truculent leader, responsible for violence against the population and public property. While in exile, he published the book A coluna da morte sob o comando do tenente Cabanas, in which he reacted to the accusations and presented a positive self image of a righteous and revolutionary leader. His importance as a military leader was recognized by loyalists in his day and later historians.