The Irish Presence in the History and Place Names of Cuba
http://www.irlandeses.org/0711fernandezmoya4.htm

By Rafael Fernández Moya


IV

Upon the US American general Thomas Jordan’s arrival, who was named Chief of the High Command and later Head of the Liberation Army in the Camagüey region, W. O’Ryan was named inspector and chief of cavalry, before attaining the rank of general. He was sent on a mission to the United States, from where he set out to return to Cuba at the end of October 1873. He sailed aboard the American steamship Virginius as part of the leadership of an expedition also led by the generals Bernabé Varona Borrero (Bembeta) and Pedro Céspedes Castillo, as well as the colonel Jesús del Sol.

The Virginius was captured by the Spanish warship Tornado off Cuban waters and was towed into the bay of Santiago de Cuba on 1 December. Five days later, by order of the Spanish authorities, all the leaders of the revolutionary expedition were executed, O’Ryan among them. On 7 December the ship’s captain, Joseph Fry, and 36 members of the crew, were executed, causing a diplomatic and political conflict between Spain and the United States. In honour of the independence fighter O’Ryan a street of the Sagarra subdivision in Santiago de Cuba was given his name.

Rafael Fernández Moya
Notes
[1] The author is a Specialist in Commercial Management at the tourist company Habaguanex, and in the Historian’s Office of Havana.