1. Brigadier Juan Mackenna was an Irish-born, Chilean military officer and hero of the Chilean War of Independence.
10 Facts About Juan Mackenna
1. 2.
Juan Mackenna is considered to have been the creator of the Corps of Military Engineers of the Chilean Army.
3.
Juan Mackenna was born John MacKenna in Monaghan, County Monaghan, Ireland, the son of William MacKenna of Willville House near Monaghan town and Eleanora O'Reilly and, on his mother's side, a nephew to Count Alejandro O'Reilly.
4.
Juan Mackenna trained in the Royal Military Academy as a Military Engineer between 1785 and 1791.
5.
In 1791 Juan Mackenna resumed his studies in Barcelona and acted as liaison with mercenaries recruited in Europe.
6.
Juan Mackenna arrived in Buenos Aires and then travelled to Mendoza and to Chile across the Andes and then to Peru.
7.
Juan Mackenna built the storehouse and two mills, as well as the road between Osorno and present-day Puerto Montt.
8.
In 1809 Juan Mackenna married Josefina Vicuna y Larrain, an eighteen-year-old Chilean woman from a family with revolutionary connections, with whom he had three children: Maria del Carmen Dolores, Juan Francisco Maria del Transito, and Felix.
9.
Juan Mackenna was a firm ally of Bernardo O'Higgins, who appointed him as one of the key officers to fight the Spanish army of General Antonio Pareja.
10.
Juan Mackenna died in Buenos Aires late in 1814, after a duel with Luis Carrera.