Daniel Florence O'Leary

Daniel Florence O'Leary
Native name Dónall Fínín Ó Laoghaire
Born 1801
Cork, Ireland
Died 1854
Santa Fe de Bogota, Colombia
Allegiance Venezuelan republicans
Rank Brigadier general
Battles/wars

Daniel Florence O'Leary (Irish: Dónall Fínín Ó Laoghaire; 1801–1854) was a military general and aide-de-camp under Simón Bolívar.

Life

He was born in Cork, Ireland; his father was Jeremiah O'Leary, a butter merchant. In 1817, he emigrated to South America.[1]

Bust of General O'Leary, Fitzgerald Park, Cork

Unlike many of the Irish who fought for Simon Bolívar in his many campaigns to win South American independence, O'Leary had not served in the Napoleonic Wars.

In 1827 he married Soledad Soublette, the younger sister of General Carlos Soublette, with whom he had nine children.

After Bolívar's death in 1830, O'Leary disobeyed orders to burn the general's personal documents. He spent much of the rest of his life organizing them, along with writing his own very extensive memoirs (spanning thirty-four volumes) of his time fighting in the revolutionary wars with Bolívar. He died in Bogotá, Colombia. He is buried in the National Pantheon of Venezuela.

A bust and plaque honouring O'Leary were presented by the Venezuelan Government to the people of Cork and unveiled on 12 May 2010 by the Venezuelan Ambassador to Ireland, Dr. Samuel Moncada.

Plaque below the bust of General Daniel O'Leary

See also

References

  1. McNerney, Jr., Robert F. (January 1966). "Daniel Florence O'Leary, Soldier, Diplomat, and Historian". The Americas: 292–312. Retrieved 28 April 2013.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, May 01, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.