Francisco Martínez Portusach (1864–1919) was a Spanish

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and

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who was briefly the

Governor of Guam The governor of Guam ( / ) is the head of government of Guam and the commander-in-chief of the Guam National Guard, whose responsibilities also include making the annual State of the Island (formerly the State of the Territory) addresses to t ...

, before he was deposed. In the American media of the time, he was often referred to as Francisco Portusach or Frank Portusach.

Biography

Portusach was born in

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. His father was a wealthy merchant and Portusach spent his childhood on

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merchant ships in the

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and other Spanish territories. After the death of his father, he fell out of favor with his elder brother and moved to

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, in 1885 and became a

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in 1888. Soon after, he moved to

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, and then to

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, where he met and married his American wife. Together, they moved to

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, then a Spanish colonial territory. On June 20, 1898, during the

Spanish–American War The Spanish–American War (April 21 – August 13, 1898) was fought between Restoration (Spain), Spain and the United States in 1898. It began with the sinking of the USS Maine (1889), USS ''Maine'' in Havana Harbor in Cuba, and resulted in the ...

, the

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captured Guam. The existing Spanish garrison, including Governor Juan Marina, were taken as

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. The existing Spanish citizens of the island were also disarmed.

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Henry Glass, the commander of the battle appointed Portusach as the acting-

, to serve until a formal military garrison could be sent. Portusach's only qualification for the position was that he was the only American citizen living on the island. With Glass and the

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departed, Portusach was unable to solidify his position as governor and he was quickly overthrown by José Sisto, a Filipino Spaniard and the island

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under Spanish rule. Sisto, too, would shortly be overthrown by the native Chamorro population. In January 1899, the USS ''Brutus'' arrived and reinstated Sisto – not Portusach – as governor. In 1917, he wrote ''History of the Capture of Guam by the United States Man-of-War 'Charleston' and Its Transports''.

References

"Spaniards Rise In Guam"
''New York Times''. New York, N.Y.: Dec 31, 1898. pg. 1, 1 pgs *"Portusach Was Deposed." ''The Washington Post''. Washington, D.C.: Dec 31, 1898. pg. 1, 1 pgs *"The Capture of the Island of Guam." ''Overland Monthly and Out West Magazine''. San Francisco: Mar 1900. Vol.VOL. XXXV, Iss. No. 207; pg. 225, 9 pgs

{{DEFAULTSORT:Portusach Martinez, Francisco 1864 births 1919 deaths Governors of Guam Spanish emigrants to the United States Guamanian people of Spanish descent Spanish merchants 19th-century Spanish businesspeople People from the Spanish East Indies

Biography

See also

References