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Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Columbus, Diego 1472-1526 (search)
the care of Father Marchena, the prior of the establishment. He was afterwards nurtured in the bosom of the Spanish Court as an attendant upon Prince Juan, and developed, in young manhood, much of the indomitable spirit of his father. After the death of the latter he made unavailing efforts to procure from King Ferdinand the offices and rights secured to his father and his descendants by solemn contract. At the end of two years he sued the King before the Council of the Indies and obtained a decree in his favor and a confirmation of his title to the viceroyalty of the West Indies. In 1509 he sailed for Santo Domingo with his young wife, and superseded Nicholas Ovando as governor, who had been wrongfully put in that office by the King. The same year he planted a settlement in Jamaica; and in 1511 he sent Diego Velasquez, with a small number of troops, to conquer Cuba, and the victor was made captain-general of the island. He died in Montalvan, near Toledo, Spain, Feb. 23, 1526.
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Cortez, Hernando 1485- (search)
Cortez, Hernando 1485- Military officer; born in Medellin, Estremadura, Spain, in 1485, of a good family; studied law two years at Salamanca, and in 1504 sailed from San Lucar for Santo Domingo in a merchant vessel. The governor received him kindly, and he was soon employed, under Diego Velasquez, in quelling a revolt. In 1511 Diego Columbus (q. v.), governor of Santo Domingo, sent Velasquez to conquer and colonize Cuba. Cortez accompanied him. Santiago was founded, and Cortez was made alSanto Domingo, sent Velasquez to conquer and colonize Cuba. Cortez accompanied him. Santiago was founded, and Cortez was made alcalde, or mayor. He married a Spanish lady and employed the natives in mining gold, treating them most cruelly. Velasquez placed him at the head of an expedition to conquer and colonize Mexico, portions of which Cordova and Grijalva had just discovered. Before he sailed Velasquez countermanded the order, but the ambitious Cortez, disobedient, sailed for Mexico, in 1519, with ten vessels, bearing 550 Spaniards, over 200 Indians, a few negroes and horses, and some brass cannon. He landed at T
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Cuba (search)
e and loving copper-colored race, who were rightfully called by themselves The Good. When, in the winter of 1509-10, Ojeda was sailing from Central America to Santo Domingo with some of his followers, his vessel was stranded on the southern shores of Cuba. He and his crew suffered dreadfully in the morasses, and more than half of them perished. They feared the natives, to whose protection persecuted ones in Santo Domingo had fled, but hunger compelled the Spaniards to seek for food among them. These suffering Christians were treated most kindly by the pagans, and through their good offices Ojeda was enabled to reach Jamaica, then settled by his countryand over its altar-piece he placed a small Flemish painting of the Virgin, and taught the natives to worship her as the Mother of God. Then Ojeda, on reaching Santo Domingo, told his countrymen of the abundance of precious metals in Cuba, when Diego Velasquez, appointed governor of Cuba by Diego Columbus, went with 300 men and mad
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Diplomatic service. (search)
nary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Bogota. Costa Rica. William L. Merry, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, San Jose. Denmark. Laurits S. Swenson, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Copenhagen. Dominican republic. William F. Powell, Charge d'affaires, Port au Prince. Ecuador. Archbald J. Sampson, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Quito. Egypt. John G. Long, Agent and Consul-General, Cairo. France. Horace Porter, fior Dr. Luis Cuervo Marquez, Charge d'affaires. Costa Rica. Sefior Don Joaquin Bernardo Calvo, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary. Denmark. Mr. Constantin Brun, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary. Dominican republic. Señor Don Emilio C. Joubert, Charge d'affaires. Ecuador. Senior Don Luis Felipe Carbo, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary. France. M. Jules Cambon, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary. Germany. H
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Douglass, Frederick, 1817- (search)
e spoke at an anti-slaver convention at Nantucket, and soon after wards was made the agent of the Massachusetts Anti-slavery Society. He lectured extensively in New England, and, going to Great Britain, spoke in nearly all the large towns in that country on the subject of slavery. On his return, in 1847, he began the publication, at Rochester, N. Y., of the North Star (afterwards Frederick Douglass's paper). In 1870 he Frederick Douglass. became editor of the National era at Washington City; in 1871 was appointed assistant secretary of the commission to Santo Domingo; then became one of the Territorial Council of the District of Columbia; in 1876-81 was United States marshal for the District; in 1881-86 was n recorder of deeds there; and in 1889-91 was United States minister to Haiti. He we was author of Narrative of my experiences in slavery (1844); My bondage and my. Freedom (1855); and Life and times of Frederick Douglass (1881). He died near Washington, D. C., Feb. 20, 1895.
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Fouchet, Jean Antoine Joseph, Baron 1763- (search)
Fouchet, Jean Antoine Joseph, Baron 1763- Diplomatist; born in St. Quentin, France, in 1763; was a law student at Paris when the Revolution broke out, and published a pamphlet in defence of its principles. Soon afterwards he was appointed a member of the executive council of the revolutionary government, and was French ambassador to the United States in 1794-95. Here his behavior was less offensive than that of Citizen Genet, but it was not satisfactory, and he was succeeded by Adet, a more prudent man. After he left the United States, the French Directory appointed him a commissioner to Santo Domingo, which he declined. Under Bonaparte he was prefect of Var, and in 1805 he was the same of Ain. Afterwards he was created a baron and made commander of the Legion of Honor. He remained in Italy until the French evacuated it in 1814. On Napoleon's return from Elba Fouchet was made prefect of the Gironde. The date of his death is not known.
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), French West Indies, the (search)
rticipated. Gaudeloupe had already been taken. General Monckton, after submitting his commission as governor to the council of New York, sailed from that port (January, 1762), with two line-of-battle ships, 100 transports, and 1,200 regulars and colonial troops. Major Gates (afterwards adjutant-general of the Continental army) went with Monckton as aide-de-camp, and carried to England the news of the capture of Martinique. Richard Montgomery (afterwards a general in the Continental army) held the rank of captain in this expedition. The colonial troops were led by Gen. Phineas Lyman. Grenada, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent's—indeed, every island in the Caribbean group possessed by the French-fell into the hands of the English. The French fleet was ruined, and French merchantmen were driven from the seas. British vessels, including those of New York and New England, now obtained the carrying-trade of those islands; also, under safe conducts and flags of truce, that of Santo Domingo
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Garrison, William Lloyd 1804-1879 (search)
ers, in imposing new burdens and heavier fetters upon their down-trodden vassals—all these things, together with a long catalogue of others, prove that the abolitionists have not set aught down in malice against the South; that they have exaggerated nothing. They warn us, as with miraculous speech, that, unless justice be speedily done, a bloody catastrophe is to come, which will roll a gory tide of desolation through the land, and may, peradventure, blot out the memory of the scenes of Santo Domingo. They are the premonitory rumblings of a great earthquake—the lava token of a heaving volcano! God grant that, while there is time and a way to escape, we may give heed to these signals of impending retribution! One thing I know full well. Calumniated, abhorred, persecuted as the abolitionists have been, they constitute the body-guard of the slave-holders, not to strengthen their opposition, but to shield them from the vengeance of their slaves. Instead of seeking their destruct
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Girard, Stephen (search)
Girard, Stephen Philanthropist; born near Bordeaux, France, May 24, 1750; engaged in the merchant service in early life; established himself in mercantile business in Philadelphia in 1769, and traded to the West Indies until the beginning of the Revolutionary War. Resuming his West India trade after the war, he accumulated a large fortune; but the foundation of his great wealth was laid by events of the negro insurrection in Santo Domingo. Two of his vessels being there, planters placed their effects on board of them, but lost their lives in the massacre that ensued. The property of owners that could not be found was left in Girard's possession. In 1812 he bought the building and much of the stock of the old United States Bank, and began business as a private banker. He amassed a large fortune, and at his death, in Philadelphia Dec. 26, 1831, left property valued at almost $9,000,000. Besides large bequests to public institutions, he gave to Philadelphia $500,000 for the impro
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Gomez, Maximo (search)
army, and served as a lieutenant of cavalry during the last occupation of that island by Spain. In the war with Haiti he greatly distinguished himself in the battle of San Tome, where with twenty men he routed a much superior force. After San Domingo became free he went with the Spanish troops to Cuba, and for a time was in Santiago. Becoming dissatisfied with the way in which the Spanish general, Villar, treated some starving Cuban refugees he called him a coward and personally assaultedas commander-in-chief. When Gen. Martinez Campos was sent to Cuba in 1878 and succeeded in persuading the Cuban leaders to make terms of peace, General Gomez withdrew to Jamaica, refusing to remain under Spanish rule. Subsequently he went to San Domingo, where he lived on a farm until the beginning of the revolution in 1895. When Jose Marti, who had been proclaimed president of the new revolutionary party, sent for him he promptly responded. Landing secretly on the Cuban shore with Maceo a
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