Garrison of Janos in Chihuahua

Received a request from Lance R. Blyth, who is working on a Doctoral programme and intends to focus his dissertation on the garrison of Janos in Chihuahua during the period of 1690 - 1821. Lance would like to correspond with anybody who is involved in the study of frontier militias of these Colonial and early Independence periods, particularly the troops manning garrisons in New Spain. You can contact him at this address: Lance R. Blyth, 813 W. University, Apt.303, Flagstaff, AZ. 86001, U.S.A. or this e-mail address: lrb@dana.ucc.nau.edu It would be interesting to see how his dissertation works out, best wishes for it.

Pro-French Spaniards?

Received an enquiry from Thomas E. DeVoe which I feel is an interesting comment and could lead to some interesting research, here's part of his letter that relates to this enquiry:

Recently I helped co-author with George Nafziger, Volume V of "The French Army, Royal, Republican, Imperial, 1792-1815 (Regiments Hors de Ligne)", the majority of the work covering the Franco-Spanish forces of King Joseph Bonaparte, 1809-1813.

While a considerable number of French officers serving under or attached to King Joseph's command, especially general officers, were fairly easy to research, very little information or data was discovered on the Spanish officers who, for one reason or another, were also loyal to Joseph. The French Army files in Vincennes claims to have very little information on them.

It was while reading your Osprey title "The Armies of Bolivar and San Martin" that I began to notice the same last name of a few officers that I had been researching. Not all that familiar with names in Spanish, I began to wonder if they possibly could be the same individuals? Could some of these pro-French Spaniards after say the Battle of Vitoria in the summer of 1813 or even after the fall of Napoleon in April 1814, who would not return to their homeland to be branded traitors, chose an option to flee to the Spanish Colonies of South and Central America, and when there took up the cause for Independence, their military experience would have been at a premium.

That is one of the reasons for contacting you at this time. Perhaps you or one of the members of the society can help information on this topic?

Here are four names of general officers that I am seeking information about, ANY data that could be found on their post-1813 movements and positions would be greatly appreciated, they are:

General ……… Soler
Marques del Casapalacious, General of Brigade
General Jose Joaquin Marti
General Juan Kindelan

The latter two were exiled from Spain after Joseph's fall, When Napoleon lost power, I have strong doubts that they would have remained in France as with the war ending, all of these Bonapartists would have been "persona non gratis" and I believe that the Spanish Colonies could have been an ideal place to "get lost" in. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Respectfully, Thomas E. DeVoe

I told you that the enquiry was of an interesting nature, if anybody knows data that could be relevant to either, a better understanding of what did happen to these officers after 1813 and where they went, or have details of ex-Spanish Army officers who were given commissions into the various Patriot Forces, could they please send it in to me so that I can formulate a small article or various notes on this topic. I will have to have a look at my books to see if anything crops up on this theme, although you could well end up with two lists of ex-Spanish Army officers, those that were from the pro-Napoleon contingent and those who joined the Patriot cause through commercial or fiscal rewards, there is a third type those who were born in the Americas and came back to fight for the right to self determination i.e. San Martin. Hope that you like this scenario, although it could well take a number of years to piece together even a smallish list, so the sooner I start the better. T.D.H.