Thursday, August 8, 2013

Sotomayor: Daughter of the American Revolution

Daughter of the American Revolution?   The biography of Supreme Court Associate Justice Sandra Sotomayor may not be quite complete. It is well-known that the American Revolution was a trans-Atlantic war. Our French allies sent troops to Rhode Island and Virginia, notably the Siege of Yorktown. John Paul Jones took the war to Britain's home waters. Little remembered, though, is the Siege of Gibraltar, which was the largest battle of the war in terms of land and sea power, pinning down significant portions of the British army and navy in Spain. The commander of America's French and Spanish allies in this battle was Martin Alvarez de Sotomayor. 

Strictly speaking, this has nothing to do with America's Civil War, but it's a really fun thought about  America's debt to Spain and the Spanish.