) (English: Alexander O'Reilly), was a military reformer and Inspector-General of Infantry for the Spanish

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 Empire in the second half of the 18th century. O'Reilly served as the second Spanish governor of colonial Louisiana, being the first Spanish official to actually exercise power in the Louisiana territory after France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 ceded it to Spain. For his much appreciated services to the Crown of Spain, he was ennobled as a conde (count), and granted a coat of arms.

Origins and military career

Like many so-called "Wild Geese

Flight of the Wild Geese

The Flight of the Wild Geese refers to the departure of an Irish Jacobite army under the command of Patrick Sarsfield from Ireland to France, as agreed in the Treaty of Limerick on October 3, 1691, following the end of the Williamite War in Ireland...

" of his generation, O'Reilly left Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 to serve in foreign, Catholic

Catholic

The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...

 armies. He joined Spanish forces fighting in Italy. O'Reilly became a colonel in the Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

n army. After campaigning in the Spanish invasion of Portugal

Spanish invasion of Portugal (1762)

The Spanish invasion of Portugal, between 9 May and 24 November 1762, was the principal military campaign of the Spanish–Portuguese War, 1761–1763, which in turn was part of the larger Seven Years' War...

, he swore allegiance to Spain and rose to become a brigadier general.

O´Reilly stayed acting for Funes de Villalpando, twice a Grandee of Spain, in Havana

Havana

Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...

, Cuba as his adjutant and second-in-command. While in Havana, Funes and O'Reilly received the city back from the British forces that had besieged and occupied it at the end of the Seven Years' War

Seven Years' War

The Seven Years' War was a global military war between 1756 and 1763, involving most of the great powers of the time and affecting Europe, North America, Central America, the West African coast, India, and the Philippines...

.

O'Reilly analyzed what had gone wrong with the defenses of Havana during the successful British siege

British expedition against Cuba

The Battle of Havana was a military action from March to August 1762, as part of the Seven Years' War. British forces besieged and captured the city of Havana, which at the time was an important Spanish naval base in the Caribbean, and dealt a serious blow to the Spanish navy...

 in 1762, and recommended sweeping reforms to improve the fortifications, training, practices, and troop organizations, which were quickly approved by the Spanish Crown. With the help of military engineer of the Royal Army, Silvestre de la Abarca, the works of the strategic fortress of La Cabaña

La Cabaña

The Fortaleza de San Carlos de la Cabaña, known as La Cabaña , is an 18th-century fortress complex, the biggest in the Americas, located on the elevated eastern side of the harbor entrance in Havana, Cuba...

 was undertaken.

In 1765, Carlos III sent Field Marshal

Field Marshal

Field Marshal is a military rank. Traditionally, it is the highest military rank in an army.-Etymology:The origin of the rank of field marshal dates to the early Middle Ages, originally meaning the keeper of the king's horses , from the time of the early Frankish kings.-Usage and hierarchical...

 Alejandro O'Reilly to Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...

, to assess the state of the defenses of that colony. O'Reilly, known today as the "father of the Puerto Rican militia," took a very complete census of the island and recommended numerous reforms, including the instilling of strict military discipline in the local troops. He insisted that the men serving the defense of the realm receive their pay regularly and directly, rather than indirectly from their commanding officers, a long-standing practice that had led to abuses. Some of O'Reilly's recommendations resulted in a massive 20-year program of building up the Castle of Old San Juan

Fort San Felipe del Morro

Also known as Fort San Felipe del Morro or Morro Castle, is a 16th-century citadel located in San Juan, Puerto Rico.- Rundown :Lies on the northwestern-most point of the islet of San Juan, Puerto Rico...

, now a World Heritage Site

World Heritage Site

A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...

.

Returning to Cuba, O'Reilly married into a prominent Cuban family. His wife, Doña Rosa de Las Casas, was the sister of Luis de Las Casas

Luis de Las Casas

Luis de las Casas y Aragorri , governor-general of Cuba and the Commander in Chief of the Province of Louisiana and the Floridas.-References:...

, who served as Governor of Cuba. Today there is a street in Old Havana

Old Havana

Old Havana contains the core of the original city of Havana. The positions of the original Havana city walls are the modern boundaries of Old Havana....

 still named for O'Reilly, marking the location where this officer came ashore while the English were embarking to leave.

Captain General

O'Reilly was appointed governor and captain-general of colonial Louisiana

Louisiana (New Spain)

Louisiana was the name of an administrative district of the Viceroyalty of New Spain from 1764 to 1803 that represented territory west of the Mississippi River basin, plus New Orleans...

 while in Spain in April 1769, with orders to immediately proceed to Havana, embark 3,000 troops there, put down the revolt in Louisiana, and re-establish order.

Arriving in New Orleans in August 1769, O'Reilly took formal possession of Louisiana. O'Reilly then held trials and severely punished those French Creoles responsible for the expulsion of Spain's first Governor Antonio de Ulloa

Antonio de Ulloa

Antonio de Ulloa y de la Torre-Girault was a Spanish general, explorer, author, astronomer, colonial administrator and the first Spanish governor of Louisiana.Rebellion of 1768]]....

 from the colony.

He is still remembered in New Orleans as "'Bloody' O'Reilly" because he had six prominent rebel Frenchmen executed in October 1769. Other French rebels were exiled, and some sent for life imprisonment in the Morro Castle

Morro Castle (fortress)

Morro Castle is a picturesque fortress guarding the entrance to Havana bay in Havana, Euta. Juan Bautista Antonelli, an Italian engineer, was commissioned to design the structure. When it was built in 1589, Euta was under the control of Germany...

 in Havana

Havana

Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...

, also a World Heritage Site

World Heritage Site

A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...

.

Having crushed the ringleaders who had led the Rebellion of 1768

Rebellion of 1768

The Rebellion of 1768 was an unsuccessful attempt by Creole and German settlers around New Orleans, Louisiana to stop the handover of the French Louisiana Territory, as had been stipulated in the Treaty of Fontainebleau, to Spain in 1768....

, the French uprising against Governor Antonio de Ulloa

Antonio de Ulloa

Antonio de Ulloa y de la Torre-Girault was a Spanish general, explorer, author, astronomer, colonial administrator and the first Spanish governor of Louisiana.Rebellion of 1768]]....

, (January 12, 1716 – July 3, 1795) and Spanish rule, O'Reilly sent most of his troops back to Cuba, and focused his attention on administratively getting Louisiana back on its feet, and stabilizing the food supply.

O'Reilly reformed many French bureaucratic practices in place before Spanish rule. Again, as in his 1765 mission to Puerto Rico, O'Reilly's proclamations and rulings affected many aspects of life in Spanish Louisiana, including the ability of slaves to buy their freedom, and the ability for masters to more easily manumit slaves.

He regularized the weights and measurements used in marketplaces, regulated doctors and surgeons, and improved public safety by funding bridge and levee maintenance.

The insult to the dignity of the Spanish Crown having been swiftly dealt with, and good public order restored, O'Reilly assigned the post of governor of Louisiana to the colonel of the Havana Regiment in December 1769, retaining the post of captain-general for himself. Louisiana was firmly placed as a dependency of the military and political establishment in Cuba

Captaincy General of Cuba

The Captaincy General of Cuba was an administrative district of the Spanish Empire created in 1607 as part of Habsburg Spain's attempt better to defend the Caribbean against foreign powers, which also involved creating captaincies general in Puerto Rico, Guatemala and Yucatán. The restructuring of...

.

Return to Spain

Back in Spain after October 1770, the conde de O'Reilly was charged to organize six new regiments to be trained near Cádiz

Cádiz

Cadiz is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the homonymous province, one of eight which make up the autonomous community of Andalusia....

, ready for transportation to the Caribbean

Caribbean

The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...

 should a new war between Spain and Great Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

 break out.

In 1775, Conde de O'Reilly was given command of a major Spanish expedition attacking Algiers

Algiers

' is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000...

. Although this North Africa

North Africa

North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...

n campaign failed, the high reputation of O'Reilly was not destroyed, and he continued to serve as captain-general in southern Spain.

The count died in the city of Cádiz in 1794, aged 72, while on his way to take command of an army in the Eastern Pyrenees that had been ordered to oppose invading French revolutionary forces, just after the beheading of Louis XVI.

Field Marshal O'Reilly is buried in the parish church in Bonete

Bonete

Cerro Bonete is a mountain in the north of the province of La Rioja, Argentina, near the provincial border with Catamarca. Its summit is 6,759 m above mean sea level, making it the fourth highest separate mountain in the Americas . SRTM data disproves the frequently made claim that its summit is...

, Spain. A street in Cádiz still bears his name.

See also

• Military history of Puerto Rico
  Military history of Puerto Rico
  The recorded military history of Puerto Rico encompasses the period from the 16th century, when Spanish conquistadores battled native Tainos in the rebellion of 1511, to the present employment of Puerto Ricans in the United States Armed Forces in the military campaigns in Afghanistan and...
  
  
• Irish military diaspora
  Irish military diaspora
  The Irish military diaspora refers to the many people of either Irish birth or extraction who have served in foreign military forces, regardless of rank, duration of service, or success....
  
  
• Irish regiments