X-Nico

Isaac H. Duval

He was a member of the Lopez expedition to Cuba that sought to aid the Cuban national independence movement.

Narciso López

López recruited Cuban exiles in New York City and other adventurers to his cause and in 1849 his expedition was poised to embark: a troop of 600 volunteers had gathered on Round Island, Mississippi, with three ships chartered (two in New York and one in New Orleans) to transport them.

•

He solicited the military help of Senator Jefferson Davis, who had distinguished himself in the Battle of Buena Vista, offering him $100,000 and "a very fine coffee plantation".

•

He made contact with influential American politicians, including John L. O'Sullivan, an expansionist who coined the term "Manifest Destiny".

•

However, US president Zachary Taylor, who had renounced filibustering as a valid means of U.S. expansion, took steps against López and ordered his ships blockaded and seized; by September 9, all the "roughnecks" had been talked into leaving Round Island.

see also