Ally for Independence

During the American Revolution, Bernardo de Gálvez, governor of Spanish Louisiana in New Spain, quietly provided the United States with supplies and money early in the war. After Spain declared war on Britain, he and his soldiers captured British forts at Natchez, Baton Rouge, and Mobile, and in 1781 won his greatest victory by conquering Pensacola after a two-month siege by ships and ground troops. Spain's control of southern lands and waters allowed France, Spain's military ally, along with the U.S., to fight the British in Virginia, and this support, together with money and supplies sent to the Americans during the war, ultimately led to the British surrender at Yorktown, Virginia in 1781. Gálvez was later made an honorary citizen of the U.S. He was not the only Spaniard to aid the fledgling United States, as Hispanics from present-day Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic also fought and raised funds to help make American independence a reality.

Washington, District of Columbia · United States