SPAIN SENDS SUPPLIES TO THE COLONIES UP THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER
In August 1776, General Charles Henry Lee, second in command under George Washington sent Capt. George Gibson, a Virginian, with a group of 16 American colonists, from Ft. Pitt to New Orleans, to obtain supplies from Spain. Lee's request included guns, gun powder, blankets and medicine. New Orleans businessman, Oliver Pollock introduced Capt. Gibson to Spanish Governor Unzaga, who agreed to supply the colonists. The following month, Spain sent 9,000 pounds of gunpowder to the colonists up the Mississippi River, and an additional 1,000 pounds by ship to Philadelphia.
On 25 November 1776, Carlos, III ordered Bernardo Galvez to collect information about the British colonies. Subsequently, he was ordered to render secret help to the colonists. In 1777, Governor Unzaga introduced Pollock to General Galvez. By July 1777, Spain sent another 2,000 barrels of gun powder, lead and clothing up the Mississippi to assist the colonists in their revolutionary cause. Carlos, III made secret loans to the colonists of 1,000,000 livres. Additional arms, ammunition and provisions were sent by the Spaniards to George Rogers Clark's Mississippi River posts and to George Washington's continental army.
In 1777 Benjamin Franklin, American representative in France, arranged for the secret transport from Spain to the colonies of 215 bronze cannons; 4,000 tents; 13,000 grenades; 30,000 muskets, bayonetes, and uniforms; over 50,000 musket balls and 300,000 poiunds of gunpowder. A subsequent letter of thanks from Franklin to the Count of Aranda for 12,000 muskets sent to Boston from Spain was found.
By September 1777, Spain had already furnished the American insurgents with 1,870,000 livres tournaises. Before long, it became apparent to the court of Madrid that the funds which had been given equally by the two nations were being credited, by the Americans, solely to the Court
of France.
During the period 1776-1779, Spain further provided a credit of about 8 million reales, which provided military and medical supplies of all kinds, and food to the colonists.
Nevertheless, Spain was still maintaining in 1777 the cloak of secrecy over its operations, a secrecy believed to be vital to the security of its (Spain's) American dominion. In the fall of 1777, Washington, his army short of clothing and war supplies, was facing the winter that might well decide the fate of his country. Desperate agents of the colonies were becoming more and more indiscreet, announcing openly the sources of aid to America. By giving the strong impression that Spain and France were actually their open allies, they hoped to weaken England's will to continue the war.
PATRICK HENRY WRITES TO GALVEZ
In October 1777, Patrick Henry wrote two letters to General Galvez, and another in January 1778. In each of those letters he requested more supplies. Henry also suggested in those letters that the two Floridas that Spain lost to England in 1763 should revert back to Spain.
In March 1778, U.S. Captain James Willing left Ft. Pitt with an expedition of 30 men. They raided and plundered British forts and property along the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. They captured boats, barges, an armed British ship, and slaves. When Willing arrived in New Orleans with his rag tag flotilla of boats, the expedition had grown to 150 men. Galvez welcomed Willing and his men. He provided them with quarters and gave them free reign of the city. They auctioned off their British plunder. With the proceeds, they purchased military supplies for the Continental army from Galvez for their return trip.
George Rogers Clark received a considerable amount of his supplies which he used in his victories over the British at Kaskaskia, Cahokia and Vincennes in 1778-1779, up the Mississippi River from Galvez. Again, Oliver Pollock was instrumental in the transactions.
Galvez knew that a formal declaration of war was soon to come. Under the guise of recruiting an army for the defense of New Orleans, he prepared for formal war. Up until 21 June 1779, all of Spain's support for the colonists was secret. Much of the support was funneled through the French government, which took credit for these gifts and loans. On 21 June 1779 Spain formally declared war upon Great Britain.
GALVEZ CAPTURES MANCHAC
On 27 August 1779 Galvez led his army 90 miles up the Mississippi to Ft. Bute at Manchac (in current Louisiana). He started with a force of 667 men, which included 170 veteran soldiers; 330 recruits newly arrived from Mexico and the Canary Islands, and an assortment of Cubans, Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, militiamen, free Blacks and Mulattoes, and 7 American volunteers, including Oliver Pollock. Part of the force traveled in a flotilla of four boats, under the command of Juan Alvarez, while the main body went by land.
Along the way Galvez enlisted an additional 600 men from the German and Acadian coasts and 160 Indians. When he finally arrived to confront the British, his army consisted of 1,427 men. They attacked and seized Manchac on 7 September, taking 20 prisoners. Nearby developed the town of Galveztown, which was later settled by the Canary Islanders. [Note: Many Canary Islanders settled in and around San Antonio.]
GALVEZ CAPTURES BATON ROUGE AND NATCHEZ
Unknown to Galvez at the time, Carlos, III had issued a proclamation on 29 August 1779, stating that the main objective of the Spanish troops in American was to drive the British out of the Gulf of Mexico and the Mississippi River.
On 20 September 1779 his army captured Baton Rouge and negotiated the surrender of Natchez also. He took 375 prisoners from Baton Rouge and an additional 80 from Natchez. By clearing the Mississippi, this allowed Capt. William Pickles to bring an American schooner onto Lake Pontchartrain. Capt. Pickles boarded and seized the English privateer, West Florida, which had dominated the lake for two years. The Canary Islanders took other prize ships at Galveztown. For his efforts, Galvez was promoted to Brigadier General.
GALVEZ ATTACKS MOBILE
On 28 January 1780 Gen. Galvez led a flotilla of 12 ships and 754 men from New Orleans to attack the English at Mobile. They arrived at Mobile on 10 February. Also under his command were an additional 1,412 men from Havana, which arrived ten days later. By 9 March he had forced the British to surrender. Galvez was promoted to Field Marshall and given command of all Spanish operations in America.
Because of perceived foot dragging by Havana officials in their preparations for an attack on Pensacola, Galvez went to Havana to supervise the operation. By 16 October he was ready. On that day he sailed from Havana with 7 warships, 5 frigates, 3 smaller war ships and 49 transport ships. His force totaled 164 officers and 3,829 men. Two days out of Havana, this flotilla was hit by a hurricane, and many were lost. The survivors retreated to Havana.
For fear that the English at Pensacola might try to retake Mobile before he could regroup for another attack on Pensacola, Galvez dispatched two warships and 500 soldiers to reinforce Mobile. It was not until 28 February 1781 that his second flotilla was prepared to set sail from Havana. This smaller force consisted of one man of war, three frigates, one packet and several smaller transports, with a force of only 1,315 soldiers. He had previously sent word to New Orleans and Mobile respectively to have troops from those posts to join in the attack.
SPANISH SIEGE OF PENSACOLA TAKES TWO MONTHS
The two month siege of Pensacola began on 9 March 1781. Mobile sent 500 men to join Galvez, while 1,400 arrived from New Orleans. His total force consisted of about 3,500 men. Some 1,600 reinforcements from Havana arrived on 19 April. About the same time, four French frigates joined in the battle, together with 725 French soldiers. By 23 April Galvez commanded a force of 7,800 men. On 8 May 1781, the British surrendered. The British lost 105 men in the siege; 1,113 were taken prisoner and an additional 300 were allowed to return to Georgia, with their promise not to rejoin the British army. Spain's losses were 74 killed and 198 wounded.
The activities of Spanish privateers were also an important factor as they helped to cripple English means of communication and transportation. Among these privateers was the Spaniard Jorge Farragut, father of David G. Farragut, famous for his capture of New Orleans, during the War for Southern Independence, in April 1862.
Carlos, III added to Galvez' titles "Count of Galvez, Viscount of Galveztown, and Governor of West Florida and Louisiana". He was also promoted to Lt. General. Following Gen. Cornwallis' surrender at Yorktown on 19 October 1781, but before the Treaty of Paris was signed between the colonists and England in 1783, Galvez continued in his attacks against the English. He personally supervised the attack on the Bahamas and its surrender on 6 May 1782. His army consisted on 274 regulars and 338 militiamen. They captured 12 privateer ships and 65 English merchant vessels.
GALVEZ DEFEATS THE BRITISH IN THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI VALLEY
Galvez' forces also secured the upper Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. He defeated the British at San Luis (St. Louis, Missouri), and San Jose (St. Joseph, Michigan). Spanish forces also assisted General George Rogers Clark at Vicennes (Indiana), Kaskaskia and Cohokia (Illinois).
Following his victory at Pensacola, Galvez gave the French flotilla that participated in the battle of Pensacola, some 500,000 pesos. The French used this money to reprovision their ships. Those ships were part of the French fleet which blockaded Yorktown, which led to the surrender of the British on 19 October 1781. In 1782 Galvez forced the British out of the Bahamas.
OFFICIAL THANKS TO SPAIN FROM THE UNITED STATES
On 8 November 1779 Thomas Jefferson wrote to General Galvez, expressing his thanks for Spain's assistance to the revolutionary cause. In George Washington's farewell to his officers, he toasted Spain for it's assistance during the revolutionary war. In 1784 the U.S. Congress cited General Galvez and the Spanish government for their aid during the Revolution.
Upon his father's death in 1785, Governor Galvez was named Viceroy of New Spain. He died in Mexico City on 30 November 1786 at 40 years of age.
Part 3
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