Thomás O ' Ryan y Vázquez Thomás O ' Ryan y Vázquez ( Madrid 1821 - 1902 ) was a Spanish military Lieutenant General , Minister of War , and Professor at the Academy of Military Engineering in Guadalajara , Spain . He was of Irish descent . Military career . O´Ryan took part in the Spanish Revolution in 1848 . He also fought in Cuba , aged around 30 , participating in the defeat of the second attempt at maritime invasion by the Venezuelan filibuster Narciso López , ( 1797 - executed 1851 ) , who had been helped with exiles , mercenaries and money by United States Governor John A . Quitman of Mississippi , ( 1797 - 1858 ) , former Senator John Henderson of Mississippi , ( 1797 - 1857 ) and the editor of the " New Orleans Delta " , Laurence Sigur , contravening the Spain - USA neutrality conventions operative since 1818 . Quitman , Henderson and others were tried by a tribunal in the United States but were finally acquitted . Crimean War . O´Ryan was a military attaché in 1855 , as a Lieutenant Colonel , aged 34 , and was invited by the General Headquarters of the French - English Army at the Crimean War against Russia to write ann account of the war . He did this together with his assistant Lieutenant of the Military Engineers Corp , Andres Villalon Hechebarria , deceased in 1885 as a Brigadier of the Spanish Army , who participated in military campaigns in Africa , Mexico and the Philippine Islands . They wrote a most interesting account of the Crimean War in 3 volumes , namely : " Memorias sobre el viaje militar a La Crimea , presentada por los oficiales del Cuerpo de Ingenieros nombrados en 1855 para seguir y estudiar las operaciones de la Guerra entre Rusia y las potencias occidentales de Francia e Inglaterra auxiliando a la Turquía " . Madrid , Imprenta Memorial Engineers ( " Reports on the military journey to the Crimea , by officers of the Corps of Engineers appointed in 1855 to monitor and study the operations of the War between Russia and the Western powers France and England , in support of Turkey . " ) . Further career . In 1859 he was commissioned as a Colonel to witness the Italian War . He was a Governor of Melilla , ( 1864 - 1866 ) He was a personal aide of King Alfonso XII of Spain , ( 1857 - King under a coup détat in 1875 - 1885 ) , Minister of War in the Cabinet of Prime Minister Praxedes Mateo Sagasta and General Director of the Infantry Corps . Bibliography . O´Ryan wrote in Spanish , " Guerra de Oriente ( 1854 a 1856 ) . Conferencias dadas en el Centro del Ejército y de la Armada by General Don Tomás O´Ryan y Vázquez ( East War ( 1854 to 1856 ) . Lectures given to the Army and Navy . " ) . Madrid , Imprenta Memorial Engineers ( 1886 ) . He published in 1856 , in vol . 11 , of the Imprenta Memorial Engineers , ( Madrid ) , a 360 pages treatise with 36 deployable designs , a translation of the German work by the Austrian Julius von Wurmb " Tratado de Arquitectura Militar " ( Treatise on Military Architecture ) . He wrote some treatises on military engineering . Honours . He received the " Legion d ' Honneur " medal in France , the Portuguese medal of the " Order of the Concepcion de Villaviciosa " , the medal of " San Maurizio e San Lazaro " in Italy and the " Order of the Medjidie " from Turkey .