Francisco Burdett O'Connor

Francisco Burdett-O'Connor

Francisco Burdett O'Connor (born June 12, 1791 in Cork , Ireland , † October 5, 1871 in Tarija , Bolivia ) (born Francis Burdett O'Connor ) served as an officer in the Irish Legion of Simón Bolívar's army in Venezuela . Later he was chief of staff under Antonio José de Sucre and minister of war in Bolivia.

origin

Francis Burdett O'Connor was born into a well-known Irish Protestant family to Roger O'Connor and Wilhamena Bowen. His uncle Arthur O'Connor (1753-1852) worked as an agent in France for Robert Emmet's uprising of the United Irishmen . Francis' brother Feargus O'Connor (1794-1855) was a British member of Parliament and Chartists -Anführer.

Venezuela

In 1819 Francis O'Connor enlisted in the Latin American independence movement led by Simon Bolivar and set sail from Dublin with 100 officers and 101 recruits from the Irish Legion under the command of Colonel William Aylmer . In September 1819, the troops landed on Isla Margarita off the coast of Venezuela, but found that the external conditions were poor and no preparations had been made. After numerical losses due to deaths and desertions , the troops attacked the city of Riohacha on the mainland in March 1820 and occupied it for some time. Later the troops were involved in the siege of Cartagena and in the campaign against Santa Marta in Colombia . However, the Irish soldiers became more and more discouraged. The restrained and clumsy progress of the war under General Mariano Montilla gradually led to indiscipline among the Irish soldiers and ultimately resulted in open mutiny. The troops were therefore disarmed in June 1820 and shipped to Jamaica .

Peru and Bolivia

In 1824, O'Connor joined the Liberation Army in Peru , and Bolívar named him chief of staff six months later. In August 1824 he fought under great adversity in the Battle of Junín and later selected a plateau on the Condorcunca for the decisive battle of Ayacucho . In 1825 Antonio José de Sucre entrusted him with the final offensive of the War of Independence and the pursuit and elimination of General Pedro Antonio Olañeta , the last loyal commander in the resistance.

In 1826, Francisco O'Connor was named Tarija Military Gover in Bolivia. The following year he published an announcement encouraging young Irish to relocate to Tarija's New Erin. He was involved in other wars between the newly founded states of South America, for example on June 24, 1838 in the suppression of an Argentine attack in the Battle of Montenegro in Bolivia. On October 5, 1871, he died in Tarija at the age of 80. His memoir, Independencia Americana: Recuerdos de Francisco Burdett O'Connor , was published in 1895.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} James Dunkerley: Warriors and scribes. Essays on the history and politics of Latin America . Verso, London / New York 2000, ISBN 1-85984-754-4 .
2. ^ Graham Wallas: Feargus O'Connor . In: Dictionary of National Biography . tape XIV . London 1909, p. 845 , doi : 10.1093 / ref: odnb / 20515 .
3. ^ Brian McGinn: Venezuela's Irish Legacy . Irish America Magazine (New York) Vol. VII, No. XI ,. November 1991. Retrieved May 10, 2009.
4. ↑ James Dunkerley: Americana. The Americas in the world around 1850 (or 'seeing the elephant' as the theme for an imaginary western) . Verso, London / New York 2000, ISBN 1-85984-753-6 , pp. 461 ff .
5. ^ Mary N. Harris: Irish Historical Writing on Latin America, and on Irish Links with Latin America (PDF; 218 kB) National University of Ireland. Archived from the original on November 23, 2008. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved May 9, 2009.