How to track down a Spanish/Latin American soldier that fought in wars internationally (18th/19th century)?

Question

The details are scant, but I hope it's enough to get the community interested and a clear answer emerge (there can't be that many people who fit the bill?).

I read a long time ago about a famous Spanish/Latin American soldier who fought in several major conflicts in the 18th or 19th century: he fought in Latin America (maybe with Jose de San Martin?), in the US, and in Europe. I'm not clear if he was a mercenary of sorts, or just chased after battle, but I remember being amazed at the fact that this one man managed to be a part of the major military conflicts at the time.

I'm hoping to find a good biography--I know it exists because I read about this person in a major media company: something like 'the not-so-famous soldier/general that shaped world history' (very loose paraphrase). At the time I found some books on Amazon but life happened and I lost track of them.

Answer 1

Writing out the question somehow jogged my memory and I found him: Francisco de Miranda.

From Wikipedia:

"Miranda led a romantic and adventurous life in the general political and intellectual climate that emerged from the Age of Enlightenment that influenced all of the Atlantic Revolutions. He participated in three major historical and political movements of his time: the American Revolutionary War, the French Revolution and the Spanish American wars of independence. He described his experiences over this time in his journal, which reached to 63 bound volumes."

Here's the biography in question-- "Francisco de Miranda: A Transatlantic Life in the Age of Revolution."

And Spanish speakers can find digitized versions of his journal free (legal) here.