Frenchmen in The Defense of Puerto Rico
When the British attempted to invade Puerto Rico in 1797 under the command of Sir Ralph Abercromby, many Frenchmen offered their services to Spain and came to the defense of the island. Among them was M. Daubón, captain of the ship L'Espiégle and Captain Lobeau of the ship Le Triomphant. Among the French surnames of those who fought on land were the following; Bernard, Hirigoyan, Chateau, Roussell, Larrac and Mallet. It must also be mentioned that the British landed a force of 400 French prisoners, who were ordered to fight against their will. The invasion failed and the British retreated on April 30 to their ships and on May 2 set sail northward. Many of the Frenchmen who fought preferred to stay and live in the island. The descendants of the families which they established continue to live there today.
Read more about this topic: French Immigration To Puerto Rico
Famous quotes containing the words frenchmen and/or defense:
“Fifty million Frenchmen can’t be wrong.”
—Anonymous. Popular saying.
Dating from World War I—when it was used by U.S. soldiers—or before, the saying was associated with nightclub hostess Texas Quinan in the 1920s. It was the title of a song recorded by Sophie Tucker in 1927, and of a Cole Porter musical in 1929.
“Unlike Boswell, whose Journals record a long and unrewarded search for a self, Johnson possessed a formidable one. His life in London—he arrived twenty-five years earlier than Boswell—turned out to be a long defense of the values of Augustan humanism against the pressures of other possibilities. In contrast to Boswell, Johnson possesses an identity not because he has gone in search of one, but because of his allegiance to a set of assumptions that he regards as objectively true.”
—Jeffrey Hart (b. 1930)