Bradburn, Juan Davis (1787–20 April 1842), military adventurer and officer of the Republic of Mexico, was born John Davis Bradburn in Virginia. Bradburn was known as Juan from 1817 until his death. Details about his early life are few, and his only child became a priest, leaving no direct descendants....
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Bradburn, Juan Davis (1787-1842), military adventurer and officer of the Republic of Mexico
Margaret Swett Henson
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Henningsen, Charles Frederick (1815-1877), filibuster and author
Christine Doyle
Henningsen, Charles Frederick (21 February 1815–14 June 1877), filibuster and author, was born in either England or Belgium. The names and occupations of his parents are unknown. As “a man apparently without a country” ( New York Times, 15 June 1877), Henningsen began his career fighting for the Carlists in Spain in 1834, serving under general Thomas Zumalacarregui. In 1835 he was awarded the title Knight of St. Ferdinand and Knight of Isabella for his service. Following his Spanish campaign, Henningsen joined the revolutionary Schamyl in Circassia. He was a fugitive in Asia Minor, when in 1848 the Magyars, under the leadership of Louis Kossuth, rebelled against Austrian control. Offering his services to Kossuth, who was in exile following the failure of the revolution, Henningsen was appointed plenipotentiary. He followed the Hungarian leader to America as his personal secretary in 1851. Remaining in the United States, he married Williamina Belt Connelly, a widow and niece of Georgia senator ...
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Humbert, Jean Joseph Amable (1767-1823), French general and military adventurer
John C. Fredriksen
Humbert, Jean Joseph Amable (22 August 1767–02 January 1823), French general and military adventurer, was born in Saint-Nabord, Vosges, France, the son of Jean Joseph Humbert and Catherine Rivat, occupations unknown. Older sources list his birthdate as 22 November 1755. Orphaned at an early age, Humbert enlisted as a sergeant in the National Guards when the French Revolution erupted in 1789. Three years later he had risen to lieutenant colonel, Thirteenth Battalion, Vosages Volunteers, and distinguished himself in suppressing peasant rebellions in the Vendée region of western France. A man of indefatigable action, Humbert also campaigned on the Rhine under Jean Charles Pichegru, Jean Victor Moreau, and Charles Dumouriez, and he became brigadier general on 9 April 1794 at the age of twenty-seven. In 1795 he accompanied the famous general Louis Lazare Hoche on a campaign against Royalists on the Quiberon peninsula, Brittany. A British-backed beachhead was crushed on 16 July, and Hoche thereafter accepted Humbert as a personal confidant. Hoche died in 1797, but he was undoubtedly instrumental in having his aide promoted to lieutenant general and entrusted to command an expeditionary force sent to support an Irish insurrection....
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Ingraham, Prentiss (1843-1904), writer and soldier
Randall C. Davis
Ingraham, Prentiss (28 December 1843–16 August 1904), writer and soldier, was born in Adams County, Mississippi, the son of Joseph Holt Ingraham, a minister and writer, and Mary Brooks, the daughter of a wealthy southern planter. Ingraham attended Jefferson College (Miss.) and Mobile Medical College until the Civil War ended his academic career. At the age of seventeen, Ingraham enlisted in Colonel William Temple Withers’s Mississippi Regiment; he later served as a scout commander in a Texas cavalry brigade. At the siege of Port Hudson, Ingraham was wounded in the foot and captured, but he escaped while being transported to a northern prison....
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Long, James (10 Oct. 1792 or 1793–08 April 1822), leader of two filibustering expeditions from the United States into Spanish Texas
Margaret Swett Henson
Long, James (10 Oct. 1792 or 1793–08 April 1822), leader of two filibustering expeditions from the United States into Spanish Texas, was born probably in North Carolina or perhaps Culpeper County, Virginia. His parents’ names and occupations are unknown. He moved at an early age to Rutherford and Maury counties, Tennessee, with his father. Nothing is known about his education, but he was reputedly a surgeon with ...
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Nolan, Philip (1771-1801), contraband trader
Jack Jackson
Nolan, Philip (1771–21 March 1801), contraband trader, was born in Belfast, Ireland, the son of “Pedro” (Peter) Nolan and Ysabela Cassedy. Nothing is known of his early life or when he came to America, but judging from his letters, Nolan received a good education. He became associated with General ...
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Walker, William (1824-1860), adventurer
Joseph A. Stout , Jr.
Walker, William (08 May 1824–12 September 1860), adventurer, was born in Nashville, Tennessee, the son of James Walker, an insurance executive, and Mary Norvell. While the family was not especially affluent, the parents were determined that William receive a good education. Accordingly, he graduated from the University of Nashville at fourteen years of age and received a medical degree in 1843 from the University of Pennsylvania. Shortly thereafter he journeyed to Europe, where he pursued additional medical studies. He returned to Nashville in 1845. He practiced medicine for a while but evidently did not enjoy the profession, and so he studied law. Late in 1845 he moved to New Orleans, where he practiced law a short time. He may have been unsuccessful in the occupation, for he soon turned to yet another profession. In 1848 he became assistant editor of the ...
