In the American Revolution, Hispanics
fought and won the Battle of Pensacola
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By Miguel Pérez It is one of the least known battles in American history, a fierce two-month military engagement where Spanish soldiers defeated the British and turned the tide of the American Revolution. In the Battle of Pensacola — March 9 to May 8, 1781 — Spain captured the capital of British West Florida and left Britain with no naval bases in the Gulf of Mexico. (See map). Led by Spanish General Bernardo de Gálvez, who was also the governor of Spanish Louisiana, the capture of Pensacola and command of the Gulf of Mexico covered George Washington's rear flank. |
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"By losing control of Pensacola, England lost its foothold on the Gulf of Mexico," according to the prestigious Pensacola Museum of History. "With supply lines disrupted and troop movements severely hampered, the British could not effectively attack Washington from the rear. The outcome at Pensacola allowed General Washington to focus his resources on the war's eastern front."
And so began the third "Spanish period" of Pensacola. Some background: Before becoming part of the United States, Pensacola belonged to three foreign powers, and it was Spanish three times! |
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The first Spanish period lasted 160 years. From 1559 to 1561, the Tristan de Luna expedition from New Spain (Mexico) established Santa Maria de Ochuse, in what is now Pensacola. Ravaged by a hurricane, that first Spanish settlement did not survive, but various other Spanish expeditions kept exploring the Gulf Coast and claiming that territory for Spain.
In 1686, the area was documented as "Panzacola" by Spanish maritime surveyors Juan Enríquez Barroto and Antonio Romero. In 1698, Spain officially established Pensacola by building forts that were meant to disuade encroachment from French Louisiana. And it worked until 1719, when a French fleet and a ground force of their allied Indian warriors surprised and forced the Spanish to surrender. The Spanish were not even aware that they were at war with France. |
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The second Spanish period began in 1722, after the French were driven out of Pensacola by a furious hurricane (sound familiar?). Amazingly, so that the Spanish would not inherit the remaining structures, they burned down the town before leaving. And although the area was scarcely rebuilt under Spanish rule, two more hurricanes, in 1752 and 1761, caused considerable damage once again. And in 1763, at the end to the Seven Years War, when Spain and France were defeated by Britain, the British took control of Pensacola, ending the second Spanish period.
Sixteen years later, during the American Revolution, we get back to General Gálvez, who was now the governor of Spanish (no longer French) Louisiana. When Spain declared war against Britain on June 21, 1779, in support of independence for the 13 American colonies, Gálvez and his Spanish soldiers, including many Caribbean and Central American recruits, cut a path of victories along British held territory along the Gulf of Mexico, culminating in the capture of Pensacola and the beginning of the town's third Spanish period on May 10, 1781. |
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Before reaching Pensacola, Gálvez had already defeated the British at Fort Charlotte and taken control of Mobile, Alabama in a 14-day siege in February and March of 1780.
But in Pensacola, one year later, the fight was much bigger. Gálvez arrived in Pensacola with some 3,000 men and 32 battleships and led a much longer siege of the main British fort defending the city, Fort George. Yet, it was not without considerable losses. As Spanish soldiers build trenches surrounding the fort's dry moat and 20 wall-mounted cannons, they were constantly besieged by pro-British Choctaw, Creek, and Chickasaw Indian raiding parties. |
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Named after King George III of England, Fort George was built by the British during the Revolutionary War, in 1778, to protect Pensacola from Spanish forces. It was the largest of three forts atop the city's Gage Hill, and by far the greatest challenge for the Spanish army.
It was not until the second month of the siege, when many more Spanish reinforcement troops arrived, including 1,600 from Havana, that the battle began to shift against the British. Now Gálvez lead some 7,500 men against some 2,000 British soldiers in Pensacola. After extensive battery fire, and trench warfare, causing heavy loses on both sides, British General John Campbell, no longer able to withstand unforgiving Spanish artillery, raised the white flag of surrender on May 8, and Pensacola officially came under Spanish control on May 10, 1781. The final blow to the British came when "a grenade from a Spanish howitzer exploded the powder magazine at the Queen's Redoubt (one of the three forts) completely destroying the structure," according to a historical marker here. Although wounded by musket fire, Gálvez had won his most decisive battle — the longest battle of the American Revolution! The entire province of West Florida came under Spanish rule and Pensacola remained under Spanish control for some 40 years. Fort George was renamed Fort San Miguel, but it was not occupied by Spanish forces and was allowed to deteriorate. |
Fort George became Fort San Miguel
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After the Louisiana Territory was sold and transferred from Spain to France in 1802, and after it was then purchased by the United States in 1803, Spanish Pensacola was surrounded by American territory until it was invaded by British troops in August of 1814 in one of the last campaigns of the War of 1812 between the United States and Britain. It gave American General Andrew Jackson the pretext to invade and capture Pensacola three month later, in November of 1814. Yet Pensacola was returned to Spain and remained Spanish until it was purchased — with a lot of pressure — by the United States in 1821.
In today's Pensacola, Gálvez' contributions to the success of the American Revolution are properly recognized at the prestigious Pensacola Museum of History, the Gálvez Monument, an impressive equestrian statue in the heart of the city, and the Fort George Memorial Park, where a section of the fort has been reconstructed on its original foundation. |
Fort George Markers:
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A nine-month archeological excavation of Gage Hill had unearthed remnants of the forts. And so in 1976, as part of the American Bicentennial, a portion of Fort George was restored as a revolutionary war memorial.
"Although Spain was not a formal ally of the United States, her victory at Pensacola made a significant contribution to the success of the American Revolution, notes a historical marker at Fort George. "In 2015, for his heroic efforts in the American Revolution, Congress unanimously awarded General Gálvez a posthumous 'honorary citizenship of the United States of America," notes the plaque at the Gálvez Monument. Only seven other people have received this honor. And yet another plaque quotes the former King of Spain: "May the statue of Bernardo de Gálvez serve as a reminder that Spain offered the blood of her soldiers for the cause of American independence." — His Majesty King Juan Carlos I of Spain. |
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So, where do we go from here? How about a tour of Pensacola's historic district? They call it "A Spanish Town." Are you coming?
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