Italy. He was absent just a year, and only returned to America after he had fought the Austrians and Sardinians at Genoa, and with a few thousand followers had defended Rome for two months against the allied armies, 100,000 strong. Once he sought refuge on board an American and once on board a British man-of-war, and at last, when the cause of freedom was hopelessly crushed, escaped with his usual good luck to America and resumed his mercantile life in New York.
AVILÉS, Pedro Menéndez de (ah-vee-les'), Spanish sailor, b. in 1523; d. in 1574. He rendered
good services to Emperors Maximilian and Charles
V. when fighting under letters of marque against
the French fleets. He was appointed captain-general
of the route to the West Indies, and conquered
Florida, of which he became both military and
civil governor. He died while making preparations
to join the armada that was sent by Philip II. against England.
AXAYACATL (ah-sha-ya-ka'-tl), the eighth Mexican king, d. in 1477. He effected the
conquest of Tehuantepec as far as Huatulco. The
Tlaltelolcans and other people attacked the
Mexicans again, but were repulsed, their king, Moquihuix, was killed, and the Tlaltelolco country
remained under Mexican rule. Axayacatl, having
thus united the two kingdoms, began a campaign
against the inhabitants of the Tolocan and Txtlahuaca
valleys, but it was ended by his death.
AXICOAT, a Zutuhil king, one of the sons of the Quiché king, Axopil, flourished in the 11th century. Axicoat, being ambitious, declared war against his brother Jintemal, the Cakchiquel king, and their father had to mediate between them to restore
peace. But just before Axopil died he gave his Quiché
kingdom to Jintemal, which caused a new and
terrible war with Axicoat, both wishing to possess all
the territories near the borders of Lake Atitlán.
AXOPIL, son and successor of Nimá-Quiché (or Great-Quiché), king of the Quiché tribes that went to Central America after the fall of the Mexican empire of Tula, about 1052. Axopil was an able
chieftain, who extended the limits of his nation
and promoted its civilization and prosperity. In
his old age he divided his dominions, giving the
Cakchiquel kingdom to his son Jintemal, and that
of Zutuhil, or Atitlán, to his son Axicoat, keeping
for himself the kingdom of Quiché.
AYALA, Juan Bautista de, explorer, known
only in connection with the early exploration of
San Francisco bay in 1775. The bay had been
discovered only six years before. Ayala was a
Spanish lieutenant, in command of the transport
“San Carlos,” and his was the first European vessel
to enter the Golden Gate. He remained about
forty days, making surveys, and on his return to
Monterey reported concerning the excellent
character of the harbor. The visit of Sir Francis Drake
in the 16th century can not have been actually
made to the bay of San Francisco, hence the
assured priority of Ayala as explorer in this place.
AYER, James Cook, manufacturer, b. in
Groton, Conn., 5 May, 1818; d. in Winchendon, Mass.,
3 July, 1878. At the age of thirteen he removed
to Lowell, and there resided with his uncle. His
education was obtained at the public schools, where
at one time he was a classmate of Gen. Butler, and
subsequently at the Westford academy, after which
he was apprenticed to James C. Robbins, a druggist
in Lowell. While there he studied medicine,
and later he was graduated at the medical department
of the university of Pennsylvania. He never
practised, but devoted his principal attention to
pharmaceutical chemistry and the compounding of
medicines. His success in this line was very great,
and soon led him to establish in Lowell a factory
for the manufacture of his medicinal preparations,
which became one of the largest of its kind in the
world, and was magnificently equipped. He
accumulated a fortune estimated at $20,000,000. Much
of his success was due to his advertising, and he
published annually an almanac, 5,000,000 copies of
which were gratuitously distributed each year.
Editions in English, French, German, Portuguese,
and Spanish, were regularly issued. In 1874 he
accepted the republican nomination for congress in
the 7th Massachusetts district, but was defeated.
Anxiety and care brought about a brain difficulty,
and for some time prior to his death he was
confined in an asylum. His widow died 3 Jan., 1898.
AYLLÓN, Lucas Vázquez de (ah-eel-yon'), Spanish adventurer, d. in Virginia, 18 Oct., 1526. He was appointed a member of the superior court
in Santo Domingo. Cortés sent him to negotiate
an agreement with Velazquez, but he did not
succeed in effecting it either with Velazquez or with
Narvaez, who commanded the fleet of the latter.
Ayllón sent an expedition to Florida in 1520, under
Gordillo, who, in 1521, landed in lat. 33º 30', and
carried off into slavery seventy Indians. Ayllon
obtained a grant of the new country, fitted out
another vessel, which restored the captives, and in
1526 sailed himself with 500 colonists, landed at
the mouth of the Santee; sailed northward to the
Chesapeake, and on the site of Jamestown founded
the settlement of San Miguel de Guandape, which,
after his death from swamp fever, was abandoned
by the colonists, only 150 of whom reached San
Domingo alive.
AYLMER, Mathew, soldier, b. in England, 24 May, 1775; d. in London, 23 Feb., 1850. On the death of his father, he became fifth lord Ayliner m
1785, and two years later he became ensign of the 49th foot. He served at the siege of Copenhagen in 1807, and in Portugal in 1809. He was colonel of the 18th foot, and on 25 May, 1827, was raised to the rank of general. From 1830 to 1833 he was governor-general of Canada, and became exceedingly popular. During his administration he caused suitable monuments to be erected to Wolfe
and Montcalm in Quebec. In 1825 he assumed the
additional surname of Whitworth.
AYOLAS, Juan de (ay-o'-las), Spanish governor of Paraguay, d. in 1538. He was a companion of Pedro de Mendoza in the conquests along the borders of Plata river. He ascended the Parana and
Paraguay rivers, routed the Indians, and founded
both the colony and the city of Asuncion. Then
he crossed the continent with 200 men, as far as
to the borders of Peru, and was killed by savages.
AYRES. Romeyn Beck, soldier, b. at East Creek, N. Y., 20 Dec. 1825; d. in Fort Hamilton, N. Y., 4 Dec, 1888. He was graduated at West Point in 1847, going at once to Mexico as lieutenant in the 3d artillery. and remaining in garrison at Fort Preble, Mexico, until 1850. From that time till the outbreak of the civil war he was on frontier and garrison duty in various parts of the country. In 1859-'61 he was at the artillery school for "practice at Fortress Monroe. In May,
1861, he was promoted to be captain in the 3d artillery, and he was present at all the early engagements of the war about the defences of Washington. After serving as chief of artillery in W. F. Smith's division and of the 6th army corps, he accompanied the army of the Potomac in the Peninsular campaign of 1862, and thence to the Maryland campaign, ending with the battle of Antietam. He was obliged to take a sick-leave of nearly three
