- Joined
- Apr 20, 2011
- Location
- Grand Junction, TN
I don't if this has been discussed before, so I thought I'd throw it out here. One of my great-grandfathers, Ramon de Aragon, immigrated here from Cuba around 1850. The family came in through New Orleans. Ramon and one of his brothers, Fidel, ended up in my home, West Tennessee. Fidel died in Memphis, but Ramon settled in Moscow, TN, which is in Fayette County, and married a local girl. He was a doctor and when the war started, he enlisted in the 13th TN Inf and was transferred later to the 9th TX Inf. His claim to fame was that he was the Senior Surgeon of Ector's Brigade during the Atlanta campaign.
While reserching De Aragon's war service, I learned a bit about the history of Cuba during that time period. It seems that there was a revolution against Spanish rule going on and the rebels were being supported by parties here in the U. S. On at least 2 different occasions in the 1840's and 50's, rebel groups known as "filibusters" organised here and went to Cuba to take over the government. Both expeditions were beaten
The interest in Cuba here had to do with the balance of power in Washington. As new territories became states, the Southern states were becoming outnumbered in congress and the focus by the South was to make Cuba a slave state, giving the South more power in congress.
I am doing this at work right now, so I don't have my sources at hand, but will provide them later if necessary. There is a lot of info on the internet about this.
I welcome any new information and/or comments (pro or con).
While reserching De Aragon's war service, I learned a bit about the history of Cuba during that time period. It seems that there was a revolution against Spanish rule going on and the rebels were being supported by parties here in the U. S. On at least 2 different occasions in the 1840's and 50's, rebel groups known as "filibusters" organised here and went to Cuba to take over the government. Both expeditions were beaten
The interest in Cuba here had to do with the balance of power in Washington. As new territories became states, the Southern states were becoming outnumbered in congress and the focus by the South was to make Cuba a slave state, giving the South more power in congress.
I am doing this at work right now, so I don't have my sources at hand, but will provide them later if necessary. There is a lot of info on the internet about this.
I welcome any new information and/or comments (pro or con).
Bringing the