Military
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Hippolyte Bouchard, celebrated in Argentina as a hero, patriot, and founder of the Argentine Navy, was born near St. Tropez, France, in 1780. After serving in Napoleon's navy in the war against England, he joined the revolution against Spain in South America and by 1811 was fighting for the independence of Argentina, Peru, and Chile. In 1870 he launched a daring naval campaign against Spanish provinces on a voyage to circumnavigate the world, blockading Manila and striking other Spanish ports before stopping in Hawaii to buy supplies and hire 80 men. He then sailed with two ships and 360 men for California under the flag of liberated Argentina. On November 20, 1818, he entered Monterey, capital of Spanish Alta California, fired on the fort El Castillo, and demanded the town's surrender. Governor Sola refused and sent residents inland to safety. Bouchard's men pulled down the Spanish flag, raised the Argentine flag over Monterey for six days, ransacked the town, burned the governor's house and storerooms, and then sailed on to raid Southern California.
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Monterey, California · United States
