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Contributions by
J. Reyes-Montblanc
e-mail KingmontNY@aol.com
Americanos, (US born or inmigrant people whose origins are
found in Spain and the Spanish-American countries and whose ancestors or themselves
were absorbed or
immigrated into the United States during the expansionist period and afterwards)
Here are a few illustrious Americanos through history:
Captain Jordi (Jorge or George) Farragut - Spanish (Catalan)
soldier, sailor and privateer who fought under the American flag against the
English during the Revolutionary War.
Along with John Paul Jones, Alexander Gillon and John Barry were in fact,
the American navy.
Adm. David G. Farragut, son of the above born in Spanish New
Orleans in 1801, before the Louisiana Purchase. Became the first US Navy Admiral
during the War Between the States, famous for the Union blockade of the South
and for saying while commanding the USS Hartford "Damn the torpedoes, full
speed ahead" at Mobile Bay.
Count Bernardo de Gálvez, Governor of Spanish Louisiana,
Captain General of Cuba and Viceroy of Mexico, defeated the English in the
Valley of the Mississippi, in the Gulf of
Mexico also in the Bahamas and Honduras, he re-acquired Florida for Spain
where he defeated the English in major battles at Mobile, Pensacola and Fernandina.
Juan Manuel de Cagigal, Marshall of the Spanish army born in
Cuba, Captain General of Cuba and Captain General of Venezuela. Took part
in the siege and capture of Pensacola
leading an army of 8,000 Spanish and Cuban soldiers including several hundred
recruits from Mexico, Guatemala, Venezuela three Irish Regiments and a company
of free black men. The surrender of the British troops was negotiated by Cagigal's
assistants Francisco de Miranda & General Guillermo Vaughn.
Juan de Miralles, Spanish merchant and smuggler from Havana,
Cuba appointed Royal Commissioner by Charles III of Spain to the US Continental
Congress, was a close friend
of George Washington and his wife Martha to whom he gave 2 Spanish burros
garañones ( stud donkeys) for his farm at Mt. Vernon. de Miralles'
ships transported from Cuba
Spanish wines and liquors, sweets and candies, rums, cigars, chocolate and
sugar in addition to military supplies. In 1779 de Miralles is credited with
saving Washington's army
from dying of scurvy by supplying them with limones criollos (Cuban grown
Spanish limes) and with quinine over which Spain had sole monopoly at the
time. He died in George
Washington's encampment in Morristown, NJ on the 30th of April 1780.
Francisco de Miranda, Colonel in the Spanish army born in Venezuela
and assigned to the staff of George Washington by the Captain General of
Cuba. De Miranda was
successful in obtaining economic financial assistance in Cuba (even the
Cuban-Spanish criollo ladies donated their jewelry and silks) to help the
Americans in the battle of
Yorktown. Later he became a General of the French Revolution, became a favorite
of Catherine the Great of Russia, commanded the Spanish-American Revolution
that failed to gain independence from Spain for the South American countries,
he was betrayed and died in prison in Spain.
Father Felix Varela y Morales, Born in Cuba, raised by his
grand-father the Colonel commanding the garrison in San Agustin, La Florida,
returned to Cuba when east Florida was
ceded by Spain to England as part of swap for Spain to recover Havana at
the end of the 7 Years War (French & Indian War) Attended the monastery
of San Carlos and was
ordained a priest. Was elected a Cuban delegate to the Spanish Cortes or
parliament in Madrid. Got into trouble for his ideas of autonomy for the islands
of Cuba and Puerto Rico and as abolitionist. Into exile in the US, lived
in New York City where he became the Vicar General, founding many churches
and schools, mostly funded out his family fortune.
Assisted the recent Irish immigrants at the time of the Great
Irish Potato Famine and arriving Italian immigrants. Died in Saint Augustin,
Florida. In 1997 a Father Varela
commemorative postage stamp was issued by the US Postal Service.
Ambrosio González de Chávez, Exiled Cuban General
living in Charleston, SC, who led a Confederate States artillery unit from
South Carolina in the siege of Fort Sumter and
throughout the War Between the States.
Julio P. Garesché, Cuba-born graduated from West Point,
rose to Chief of Staff of the Union Army of the Cumberland, died in combat
(decapitated by a cannonball) after
completing the fortification of Washington DC.
Aniceto Garcia-Menocal, US Navy Admiral, Cuba-born engineer
who built the Washington Memorial obelisk in Washington DC and directed the
construction of the Panama
Canal. The Garcia-Menocal family produced several generals and admirals
and one president of Cuba.
Col. Federico Fernández-Cavada, Union Army, commanded
a Pennsylvania (volunteers) infantry regiment, which he had recruited and
equipped with his own capital, was one of
the heroes of the First Battle of Bull Run. Was captured by the Confederates
and interned in the infamous prisoners of war Camp Libby in Georgia along
with his brother Adolfo
Fernández-Cavada and his brother in law, medical doctor Charles Owen,
the three of whom were Cubans.
NB - There were Americano defenders of the Alamo with Davy
Crockett and David Bowie. Many thousands of Spanish North America Hispanics
became US citizens or
Americanos when the US acquired Florida; Alabama; Mississippi; Louisiana;
Missouri; Arkansas; Kansas; Texas; New Mexico; Arizona; Nevada; Utah; Colorado;
Montana;
California; Puerto Rico; Guam; Samoa; Philippines, etc. Americanos have
served honorably and with distinction in all of our wars to this day. Americanos
and particularly those of
Mexican descent constitute the largest single group of recipients of the
Congressional Medal of Honor to date.
Americanos are proud and patriotic Americans for 500 years
the first Americans.
This information
is obtained from USA Dept of Defense, Archives New Mexico, Louisiana
Archives & qualified independent sources including personal
research
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