BRION, Luis (bree-awn'), Colombian naval officer, born in Curacoa, 6 July, 1782; died 20 September, 1821. He was sent to Holland to receive his education, his father being a native of that country, entered the Dutch army, and afterward visited the United States, where he studied navigation. On the death of his father he bought a vessel, made several voyages, established a mercantile house at Curacoa, and in 1811 was appointed captain of a frigate in the service of the republic and state of Caracas. At his own expense he fitted out a fleet, and attacked the Spanish forces at the island of Margarita, where he gained a signal victory. Brion distinguished himself at the conquest of Guiana, and also at Santa Marta and Cartagena. The latter part of his life was rendered unhappy by a misunderstanding with Bolivar, which so preyed upon his mind that he became ill, and returned to Curacoa, dying soon afterward in poverty.

--BEGIN-Abbott Hall Brisbane

BRISBANE, Abbott Hall, military engineer, born in South Carolina; died in Summerville, South Carolina; 28 September, 1861. He was graduated at the United States military academy in 1825, and appointed second lieutenant of the 3d artillery, serving on topographical duty in the City of Washington, and afterward with the engineer, Bernard, on the South Atlantic coast until the close of the year 1827, when he resigned, fie served in the Florida war against the Seminole Indians in 1835-'6 as colonel of South Carolina volunteers, and was engaged in the skirmish of Tomoka, 10 March, 1836. After the war he turned his attention, as engineer, to a projected railroad from Charleston, South Carolina, to Cincinnati, Ohio, having especially entrusted to him the examination of the mountain-passes through which it was to run. He received the appointment of constructing engineer of the projected road, which place he held from 1836 till 1840. He was also chief engineer of the Ocmulgee and Flint railroad, Georgia, in 1840-'4. In 1847-'8 he was superintending engineer of an artesian well for the supply of water to the City of Charleston, and he then accepted the chair of belles-lettres and ethics in the South Carolina military academy, occupying the place from 1848 till 1853, after which he retired to his plantation near Charleston. He was the author of political romance, "Ralphton, or the Young Carolinian of 1776."