Early career Born at
Palma de Mallorca to a family of
Balearic nobility, La Romana was educated in
Lyon, France. His education was classical; he read Greek and Latin, as well as speaking French and English. He entered the
Seminario de Nobles in
Madrid and later studied at the
University of Salamanca. Like many Spanish officers of the
Napoleonic Wars, La Romana served in the
American Revolutionary War in his youth. After entering the military academy in 1775, he reached the rank of
frigate captain in 1791. He saw action at
Minorca (1781) and at
Gibraltar (1782). He then transferred to the Army of Catalonia, serving first under the orders of
Luis Firmín de Carvajal, Conde de la Unión and, following Carvajal's death at
Black Mountain (1794), under
Urrutia. At the news of his death, Wellington wrote, "his loss is the greatest which the cause could sustain." ==Gallery==