Towards the close of the 18th century the Pitt administration lent a
willing ear to a Venezuelan patriot, General Miranda, who proposed
that Great Britain should aid South America to expel the Spanish
rulers and set up a number of independent states. Spain being the
ally of France and paying an annual subsidy to Napoleon, it became
moreover the object of England to seize the treasure-ships
periodically arriving from the River Plate.
Hostilities having broken out in Europe in 1803, an English squadron
under an Irish commander, Captain Moore, captured in the following
year some Spanish galleons laden with treasure at the mouth of the
River Plate. In June, 1806, Major General William Carr Beresford with
a British squadron cast anchor about twelve miles from Buenos Ayres,
and with a force of only 1635 men took possession of that city of
60,000 inhabitants. The indignation which such a humiliation at first
caused among the people was in large measure calmed by the manifesto
which the conquering commander issued on the occasion. In the
_Memoirs_ of General Belgrano we read: "It grieved me to see my
country subjugated in this manner, but I shall always admire the
gallantry of the brave and honorable Beresford in so daring an
enterprise." Beresford was, however, unable to hold his ground, for
the Spaniards got together an army of 10,000 men, and re-took the
city. Beresford was made prisoner, but after five months' detention
he and his brother-officers, among whom was another Irishman, Major
Fahy, managed to escape. Thus ended the expedition of this brave
general, who nevertheless had covered himself and his little army
with glory, for he held Buenos Ayres as a British colony for 45 days,
and had he been properly supported from home the result would in all
probability have been vastly different.
General Beresford was one of the most distinguished men of his time.
He was the illegitimate son of the Marquis of Waterford, entered the
army at 16, and served in every quarter of the globe. After his
defeat at Buenos Ayres he captured Madeira, and was made governor of
that island. In 1808 he successfully covered the retreat of Sir John
Moore to Corunna, a difficult feat, for which he received a marshal's
baton, and was made commander-in-chief in Portugal. In 1811 he
defeated Marshal Soult at Albuera, and subsequently took part in the
victories of Salamanca and Vittoria. For these services he was made
Duke of Elvas, and the British government conferred on him in 1814
the title of Baron Beresford of Albuera and Dungannon. The same year
he was sent as minister to Brazil, and on his return was created
viscount. He married the widow of Thomas Hope the banker, and settled
down on his estates in Kent, where he died in 1854.
The brilliancy of Beresford's achievement in capturing Buenos Ayres
with a handful of men had dazzled the minds of English statesmen, who
felt that 10,000 British troops were enough to subdue the whole of
the vast continent of South America. In May, 1807, an expedition
comprising several frigates and transports with 5,000 troops appeared
off Montevideo from England. A month later Lieutenant-General
Whitelock arrived with orders to assume the chief command, and among
his officers were the gallant Irishmen, Major Vandeleur, who
commanded a wing of the 88th Regiment, and Lieutenant-Colonel Nugent,
of the 38th. Whitelock endeavored, but failed, to retake Buenos
Ayres. During the siege a small detachment of Spanish troops under
Colonel James Butler, after a terrific conflict, in which they sold
their lives dearly, were all killed. Agreeably to Colonel Butler's
request his remains were buried on the spot he had so valiantly
defended, and his tombstone was visible there until 1818.
It is a remarkable fact that several of the South American countries,
Mexico, Peru, and Chile, were governed by viceroys of Irish birth in
the critical period preceding the Independence, although Spanish law
forbade such office to any but Spaniards born. It was in recognition
of gallant services in Spain, in combination with the Duke of
Wellington, that General O'Donoghue was made viceroy of Mexico in
1821, but the elevation of the great viceroy of Peru, Ambrose
O'Higgins, was due to the splendid talents of administration already
displayed by him during twenty years of service in Chile. He was born
at Summerhill, Co. Meath, about 1730. An uncle of his was one of the
chaplains at the court of Madrid, and at his expense O'Higgins was
educated at a college in Cadiz. He then entered the Spanish engineer
corps, and in 1769 was given the command of the commission sent to
Chile to strengthen the fortifications of Valdivia. He was made
captain-general of Chile in 1788, was subsequently created marquis of
Osorno, and in 1796 was nominated viceroy of Peru, a position which
he held until his death in 1801.
The great viceroy left only one son, Bernard O'Higgins, who succeeded
General Carreras in the supreme command of the patriot army against
the Spaniards in 1813. In 1817 O'Higgins took a principal part in the
victory of Chacabuco, and was almost immediately appointed supreme
director of Chile, with dictatorial powers. During his
administration, which lasted six years, he gave every proof of his
fitness for the position. But, alas! it was the misfortune of South
America to surpass the republics of antiquity in the ingratitude
shown towards its greatest benefactors. It is then not surprising to
find that the Father of his Country, as O'Higgins is affectionately
styled, was deposed by a military revolution, and obliged to take
refuge in Peru, from which country he never returned. General Miller
and Lord Cochrane, in their _Memoirs_, give frequent testimony to the
honesty and zeal of Bernard O'Higgins. He was always treated as an
honored guest in Lima, in which city he died on October 24, 1842. He
left a son, Demetrio O'Higgins, a wealthy land-owner, who contributed
large sums for the patriot army against Spain.
Among other Irish commanders in Chile and Peru, who, during the War
of Independence, fought their way to dignity and rank, was General
MacKenna, the hero of Membrillar. He was born in 1771, at Clogher,
Co. Tyrone; his mother belonged to the ancient Irish sept of
O'Reilly, whose estates were confiscated after the fall of Limerick
in 1691.
General Thomond O'Brien, who won his spurs at the battle of
Chacabuco, seems to have been born in the south of Ireland about
1790. He joined the army of San Martin, and accompanied that general
through the campaigns of Chile and Peru until the overthrow of the
Spanish régime and the proclamation of San Martin as protector of
Peru. On the day (July 28, 1821) when independence was declared at
Lima, the protector took in his hand the standard of Pizarro and
said, "This is my portion of the trophies." Then, taking the state
canopy of Pizarro, a kind of umbrella always borne over the viceroys
in processions, he presented it to General O'Brien, saying, "This is
for the gallant comrade who fought so many years by my side in the
cause of South America." The inscription on the canopy, in O'Brien's
hand, says that it was brought to Peru on Pizarro's second journey
from Spain. Little did the viceroys think that its last owner would
be an Irishman.
General O'Connor, one of the most distinguished soldiers of the War
of Independence, played an important part in the final victory of
Ayachucho. For his gallantry on that day he was promoted to the rank
of general by the commander-in-chief, General Bolivar. After the War
of Independence he became Minister of War in Bolivia. General
O'Connor went to South America as an ensign in the Irish Legion under
General Devereux. He claimed direct descent from Roderic O'Conor,
last king of Ireland, 1186.
Captain Esmonde also fought in the War of Independence. He was
brother to the then baronet, Sir Thomas Esmonde, of Co. Wexford. In
later years Captain Esmonde was employed by the Peruvian government
to report on some proposed canals at Tarapaca. The vessel in which he
embarked was never more heard of.
Colonel Charles Carroll had served in Spain, but joined the Chilian
army after independence was gained. He was one of the most popular
officers in the army, and met with a sad fate. Being sent with too
small a detachment against the savage Indians, their commander,
Benavides, cut his forces in pieces and murdered all the officers in
a most cruel manner. O'Carroll had his tongue cut out and was then
butchered.
Lieutenant Colonel Moran, who commanded the Colombian legion at the
battle of Ayachucho, probably came out in the legion of General
Devereux.
Colonel (afterwards General) O'Leary was first aide-decamp to General
Bolivar, the Liberator, and received his last breath. He was nephew
to the famous Father Arthur O'Leary. Bolivar employed him on various
missions of great trust and says "he acquitted himself with great
ability." After the war, General O'Leary was appointed British chargé
d'affaires at Bogota, and died in Rome in 1868. General Arthur
Sandes, a native of Dublin, was entrusted with an important garrison
in Peru on the close of the War of Independence.
Admiral Brown, the distinguished commander and hero of the War of
Independence, whose exploits may be ranked, like those of Nelson,
"above all Greek, above all Roman fame," was born at Foxford, Co.
Mayo, Ireland, on the 22nd of June, 1777. His father emigrated with
his family to Pennsylvania. A ship captain who was about to sail from
Philadelphia offered to take the intelligent Irish boy with him, and
the offer was promptly accepted. During twenty years he seems to have
voyaged to many countries; at one time we find him at Archangel.
Brown had been in Buenos Ayres just two years when the patriot
government offered him command of a squadron to commence hostilities
against the Spanish navy, then mistress of all the coasts and waters
of South America. On the memorable 8th of March, 1814, Brown sailed
out of the port of Buenos Ayres with three ships to commence a
campaign, which was destined to destroy the Spanish navy in this part
of the waters of the New World. With him went his fellow-countrymen,
Captains Seaver and Kearney. Brown's next exploits were against
Spanish shipping in the Pacific, and his entirely successful campaign
at sea against Brazil, in which he gained the mastery by his
wonderful skill, courage, and perseverance, keeping at bay the great
naval power of that country (which consisted at one time of fifty war
vessels) with his few, small, ill-supplied, and ill-armed craft.
After these great exploits Brown spent some months among the wild
scenery of Mayo, so dear to him in boyhood, and, returning to Buenos
Ayres, devoted himself to the quiet life of a country gentleman. He
died surrounded by his family and friends on May 3, 1857, and the day
of his funeral was one of national mourning. His widow erected a
monument to his memory in the Recoleta cemetery, and in 1872 the
municipality of Buenos Ayres granted a site for a public statue on
the Pasco Julio, which so often rang with the plaudits of the people
as they welcomed this great Irishman returning from victory.
No brighter pages occur in the history of the New World than those
which commemorate the gallantry and self-devotion of the Irish
soldiers who aided South Americans to throw off the yoke of Spain. In
1819 an Irish Legion of 1729 men arrived under the command of General
Devereux, a Wexford landowner, called the Lafayette of South America,
to fight in the campaign of General Bolivar. Devereux was
distinguished for his great bravery. After the War of Independence he
returned to Europe, being commissioned to form a company for mining
operations in Colombia, which country had appointed him envoy
extraordinary to various European courts.
Colonel Ferguson and Captain Talbot were both Irishmen and among the
last survivors of Devereux's Legion. It is computed that one-third of
the Irish who came out under General Devereux died in hospital. It
was this legion which won the decisive battle of Carabobo, June 26,
1821, going into action 1100 strong and leaving 600 on that
hard-fought field.
Among the officers who composed Bolivar's Albion Rifles we find the
Irish names of Pigott, Tallon, Peacock, Phelan, O'Connell, McNamara,
Fetherstonhaugh, French, Reynolds, Byrne, and Haig, and the medical
officer was Dr. O'Reilly. We find mention in General Millar's
_Memoirs_ of Dr. Moore, an Irishman, who attended Bolivar in most of
his campaigns and was devotedly attached to the person of the
Liberator. Lieutenant-Colonel Hughes, Major Maurice Hogan, Lieutenant
William Keogh, Captain Laurence McGuire, Lieutenant-Colonel S.
Collins also served in the struggle for independence.
The period of independence found a small number of Irish residents in
Buenos Ayres, mostly patrician families, such as Dillon, MacMurrough,
Murphy, French, O'Gorman, Orr, Butler, O'Shee, who had been exiled or
had fled from Ireland and obtained the king of Spain's permission to
settle in Spanish America. The descendants of these families are now
so intermarried in the country that they have mostly forgotten the
language and traditions of their ancestors; but they occupy high
positions in political, legal, and commercial circles.