No doubt there’s a lot of competition. But today, April 5, 2024, I offer you this one, from Encyclopedia Britannica’s On This Day recap:
[1818] Battle of Maipú
Chile’s independence movement, led by José de San Martín and Bernardo O’Higgins, won a decisive victory over Spain in the Battle of Maipú, which left 2,000 Spaniards and 1,000 Chilean patriots dead on this day in 1818.
Wut?
Bernardo O’Higgins?
Surely not. (And–whatever you do–don’t call me Shirley.)
Digging a bit deeper reveals the fact that Bernardo O’Higgins Riquelme was a “Chilean independence leader who freed Chile from Spanish rule in the Chilean War of Independence.” A national hero, as it were.
Turns out he was the illegitimate son of Ambrosio O’Higgins, first Marquis of Osorno, born in County Sligo, Ireland (who’d’a thunk it?) and Isabel Riquelme, the daughter of a prominent, noble (in the aristocratic sense) Chilean family. When Bernardo was conceived, Isabel was 19, and Ambrosio was 58.
Not that she was a target of opportunity or anything. Pretty sure about that….
Somehow, Ambrosio O’Higgins (our hero’s father) inveigled his way into becoming the Viceroy of Peru, and young Bernardo was sent to London to complete his studies. Then he returned to Chile and joined the anti (French-at-the-time) monarchist independence movement. After some unsuccessful military encounters, O’Higgins decamped for Argentina, where he gathered up reinforcements and re-entered Chile in 1817. Victory was achieved with the Battle of Maipú, Chile proclaimed itself independent, and Bernardo O’Higgins became its Supreme Director.
Eventually (imagine my surprise) his reign began to alienate many of his original supporters. His political enemies started dying–under weirdly suspicious circumstances–by the multitudes, and he was deposed in a coup in 1823.
Sent into exile, and embarking from Valparaiso–a port city about midway down Chile’s North-South axis, , O’Higgins was bound for Ireland when Peru offered him asylum. He spent his last years there, in the company of his own illegitimate son, his mother, and his half-sister, until finally–in 1842, the government of Chile agreed to allow him to return.
He did so return, but almost immediately succumbed to physical weakness and cardiac problems, dying at the age of 64, on October 24, 1842.
The following musical interlude may not be all that relevant, but it’s the best I can do at the moment. It’s about the navy. And it mentions Valparaiso. And,they’re Irish to boot! So here you go:
If you’d like to reference something more contemporary, please have at it.
