Francisco Burdett O'Connor (12 June 1791 - 5 October 1871) (born Francis Burdett O'Connor) was an officer in the Irish Legion of Simón Bolívar's army in Venezuela. He later became chief of staff to Antonio José de Sucre and minister of war in Bolivia.[1]
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Francis Burdett O'Connor was born in Cork, Ireland, into a prominent Protestant family. His parents were Roger O'Connor and Wilhamena Bowen. His uncle Arthur O'Connor (1753-1852) was the agent in France for Robert Emmet's rebellion of the United Irishmen. His brother was the MP and Chartist leader Feargus O'Connor (1794-1855).[2]
In 1819, Francis O'Connor enlisted in the Latin American independence cause of Simon Bolivar, and sailed from Dublin with 100 officers and 101 men of the Irish Legion under the command of Colonel William Aylmer. The force arrived at Margarita Island off the coast of Venezuela on September 1819 to find that conditions were squalid and nothing was prepared.[1] After losses through death and desertion, in March 1820 the force attacked the city of Riohacha on the mainland, which they temporarily occupied. Later the force was involved in the siege of Cartagena and the campaign against Santa Marta. However, the Irish soldiers became demoralized by the cautious and inept conduct of the war by General Mariano Montilla and indiscipline evolved into mutiny. In June, 1820 the force was disarmed and shipped to Jamaica.[3]
O’Connor joined the United Army of Liberation in Peru in 1824, and six months later Bolívar appointed him chief of staff. He fought at the Battle of Junín in August 1824 against heavy odds and chose the site of the Battle of Ayacucho. In 1825 Antonio José de Sucre chose him to direct the final operation of the war, the pursuit and elimination of general Pedro Antonio Olañeta, the last royalist commander to offer resistance.[4]
In 1826 Francisco O'Connor was appointed military governor of Tarija. In 1827, he published a proclamation encouraging Irish people to settle in the 'New Erin' of Tarija. He was involved in the later wars between the successor states in South America, helping to defeat an Argentine army at the Battle of Montenegro in Bolivia on 24 June 1838.
He died in Tarija on 5 October 1871 at eighty years of age.[1] His memoirs entitled Independencia Americana: Recuerdos de Francisco Burdett O'Connor were published in 1895.[5]