Villeraye went to organize the expedition in San Francisco, where he was subsequently joined by Raousset, and on 1 June, 1852, they landed at Guaymas with 270 armed men, mostly Frenchmen, and two field-guns. Gen. Blanco, the Mexican com- mander in Sonora, prohibited their entrance into the country: but they marched to Hermosillo, stormed the place, and plundered stores and pri- vate houses, thus causing the whole country to rise in arms against them. Raousset sent Villeraye to negotiate the withdrawal of the expedition from So- nora, but Gen. Blanco demanded an unconditional surrender. The French attacked the Mexican lines at the rancho of San Jose, 4 Nov., but were driven back after a desperate action, and compelled to capitulate. Raousset, Villeraye, and a few offi- cers returned to San Francisco, but afterward went back to Mexico, where they were well received by Santa- Anna. Villeraye sought to enter the Mexi- can military service, but the successful expedition of William Walker to Lower California induced him to join Raousset in San Francisco in November, 1853, where he took the command of the re-enforce- ments that were sent by the latter to Walker. He landed at Guaymas, where he was surrounded and compelled to capitulate to the Mexican forces ; but his party was released through the intervention of the commander of the British sloop " Dido," on the plea that they had arrived in a British mer- chant vessel. Nearly the whole party was after- ward shipped back to San Francisco, but Villeraye and a few others entered a battalion of foreigners that had been mustered by the Mexican authori- ties for the protection of the state. The strength of this battalion was afterward increased by re- cruits sent purposely by Raousset, and when the latter landed, 1 July, 1854, at Algodones, near Guaymas, Villeraye was commander of one of the companies of the foreign battalion. Being secretly devoted to the cause of his former commander, he went over to him with the foreign legion at his at- tack on Guaymas, 13 July, 1854, and was killed in the midst of the action.
VILLERE, Joseph Philippe Roy de (vil-ray),
soldier, b. in France : d. in Louisiana in 1769. He
was an officer in a French regiment that was sta-
tioned in Canada, his father having come to Louisi-
ana with Iberville's first expedition. Afterward he
was naval secretary of Louisiana. In 1769 he headed
an insurrection against the Spanish authorities, and
was arrested, and killed. — His son, Jacques, gov-
ernor of Louisiana, b. near New Orleans, La., 28
April, 1761 ; d. there in 1831, was a major-gen-
eral of volunteers under Gen. Andrew Jackson in
1814-'15, and counselled him to accept the prof-
fered services of Pierre Lafitte and his outlaws, and
to flood the ground on which the British troops
were encamped by cutting the dikes of the Mis-
sissippi. He was the second governor of Louisi-
ana, succeeding William C. C. Claiborne in 1818,
and continuing in office four years, and did much
to diminish the friction between the French popu-
lation and the U. S. authorities and English-speak-
ing emigrants. — Jacques's son, Gabriel, soldier, b.
in Louisiana, 15 March 1785 ; d. in New Orleans,
La., 6 July, 1852, held a major's commission in the
militia, and at the time of the British invasion was
detailed to watch the Bayou Bienvenu. The ene-
my, landing at Fisherman's Village, captured him,
but he escaped and reached New Orleans, giving
Gen. Jackson warning of their approach.
YILLERMET, Jules Gtuillauine Ferdinand de (veel-air-may), French scientist, b. in Landerneau in 1802 ; d. in La Union, Salvador, in
1859. He held for several years an office in the
colonial department at Paris, and in 1854 was
given a mission to Mexico and Central America.
After exploring southern Mexico and Lower Cali-
fornia, where he suffered great hardships, he tried
to enter Sonora, but was prevented by the political
condition of the state. He visited Panama, Costa
Rica, and Salvador, studied the volcanoes of Que-
zaltenango, Izalco, and San Miguel, and prepared
a valuable geological chart of Central America.
He died from yellow fever just before leaving for
France. Villermet's explorations were continued
by the scientific expedition of Auguste Dolfus
and Eugene de Montserrat, and, from his notes
and the materials he had collected, his brother
published " Voyage dans le San Salvador, suivi
d'une etude sur les volcans de l'Amerique Cen-
trale " (2 vols., Geneva, 1860).
VILLIERS, Jean Pierre (veel-yair), French
missionary, d. in Cayenne in 1672. He sailed in
1664 with Lefevre de la Barre and established the
first missions in Guiana. In 1669 he returned to
France for supplies, and, arriving in the follow-
ing year, he founded a convent in Cayenne, with
seven missionaries, and built a church in that city.
He came into collision with the French company
by interfering in their transactions with the
Indians, and was imprisoned, but obtained his
release on promising not to offend again. Villiers
wrote " Etablissements de la foi fondes dans la Nou-
velle France du Sud, des sauvages qui l'habitent,
etc., avec un vocabulaire de la langue de ces peu-
ples " (Beauvais, 1690).
VILMOT, Charles Stanislas (veel-mo), French
author, b. in St. Nazaire in 1749 ; d. in Nantes
in 1794. He held an office in the quartermas-
ter's department of Count Rochambeau's army in
1780-'2, and when Marquis de Vaudreuil embarked
the French contingent for Santo Domingo, he
chose to remain in the United States, and after-
ward engaged in business in Philadelphia. He re-
turned to France in 1786, and came again to this
country to establish a ship-building yard at Phila-
delphia for French speculators, but the scheme
failed, owing to the French revolution. During
the reign of terror he was accused of being a party
to the noted " pacte de famine," and was drowned
in Nantes in one of the famous " noyades " organ-
ized by Jean Baptiste Carrier. He wrote " Obser-
vations sur les services administratifsdu gouverne-
ment des Etats-Unis de l'Amerique du Nord "
(Nantes, 1786) ; " Journal de campagne, notes prises
pendant la guerre de l'independance de l'Amerique"
(1789); and "Notes et esquisses sur les Etats-
Unis de l'Amerique du Nord " (1792).
VIN, Moyse Van, Flemish buccaneer, b. in Flanders about 1627; d. in Panama in 1678. He was a sailor on a Flemish vessel trading with Santo Domingo, but deserted about 1650, joined the buccaneers in Tortuga, and rose rapidly through his valor. But his total want of education prevented him from commanding large expeditions, and he acted as lieutenant of Grandmont, Van Graaf, Morgan, and Jacques Nau, with whom he was successively associated after 1660. He followed the last-named in all his expeditions after 1666, but early in 1670 abandoned him, when he was planning the attack on Guatemala, and, joining Henry Morgan, he served in the division which carried the fortress on Chagres river, and assisted in the capture of Panama. After Morgan's flight with the spoils, Van Vin mustered about 200 men and five vessels, made a raid on Puerto del Principe, and even attacked Porto Bello. He ravaged the coast of Cam peachy, and acquired enormous riches ; but he did not, however, enjoy them, as,
