Alejandro O'Reilly

Alejandro O'Reilly, 1st Count of O'Reilly, KOA (Spanish pronunciation: [aleˈxandɾo oˈrejli]; October 24, 1723 in Baltrasna, County Meath, Ireland – March 23, 1794 in Bonete, Spain), English: Alexander, Count of O'Reilly, Irish: Alastar Ó Raghallaigh, was an Irish-born military reformer and Inspector-General of Infantry for the Spanish Empire in the second half of the 18th century. O'Reilly served as the second Spanish governor of colonial Louisiana, and is the first Spanish official to exercise power in the Louisiana territory after France ceded it to Spain following defeat by Great Britain in the Seven Years' War. For his much appreciated services to the Crown of Spain, O'Reilly was ennobled as a conde de O'Reilly (Count of O'Reilly), and granted a coat of arms. He fell out of favour after his calamitous failed attempt at the Invasion of Algiers.

Alexander O'Reilly (Irish: Ó Raghallaigh) was born in Baltrasna, County Meath, in the Kingdom of Ireland in 1723. His grandfather John Reyly was a colonel in the Jacobite Irish Army of James II, whose regiment—O’Reilly's Dragoons—fought at the siege of Derry. Like many so-called "Wild Geese" of his generation, O'Reilly left Ireland to serve in foreign Catholic armies. He joined Spanish forces fighting in Italy against the Austrians. O'Reilly swore allegiance to Spain and rose to become a brigadier general.

O'Reilly served with the Count of Ricla in Havana, Cuba, acting as his adjutant and second-in-command. While in Havana, Ricla and O'Reilly received the city back from the British forces that had captured it during the Seven Years' War.

O'Reilly analyzed what had gone wrong with Cuban defenses during the successful British siege of Havana. He recommended sweeping reforms to improve the fortifications, training, practices, and troop organization, which were quickly approved by the Spanish Crown. Under the direction of Silvestre Abarca, a Royal Army military engineer, construction of the strategic La Cabaña fortress began according to O'Reilly's recommendations.

In 1765, King Carlos III sent O'Reilly to Puerto Rico to assess the state of the defenses in that colony. O'Reilly, known today as the "father of the Puerto Rican militia," took a complete census of the island and recommended numerous reforms, including instilling strict military discipline among the local troops. He insisted that the men serving the defense of the realm receive their pay regularly and directly, rather than indirectly from their commanding officers, a long-standing practice that had led to abuses. Some of O'Reilly's recommendations resulted in a massive 20-year program of building up the Castle of Old San Juan, now a World Heritage Site.

Returning to Cuba, O'Reilly married into a prominent Cuban family. His wife, Doña Rosa de Las Casas, was the sister of Luis de Las Casas, who served as governor of Cuba in the 1790s.

O'Reilly was an uncle of Juan MacKenna, a hero of the Chilean War of Independence, as well as a cousin of Hugo Oconór, the founder of Tucson, Arizona, governor of Spanish Texas in the late 1760s and then governor of Yucatán in 1778.

O'Reilly was appointed Governor and Captain-General of colonial Louisiana while in Spain in April 1769, with orders to immediately proceed to Havana, embark 3,000 troops there, put down the revolt in Louisiana, and re-establish order. Some French colonists, known as Creoles as they were born in the colony, had worked to expel the first Spanish governor after France ceded this territory.