(Excerpt from Real Cédula de S. M. En Que Se Erigen por Ah...)
Excerpt from Real Cédula de S. M. En Que Se Erigen por Ahora las Provincias de la Luysiana, Panzacola, Movíla, y Demás Que Poseían los Yngleses Con el Nombre de Florída Occidental, en Govierno, y Capitanía General Independiente: Y Nombre por Su Primer Governador, y Capitán General al Teniente General de los Reales Exercitos Don Bernardo de Galvez Vemenfe, no os retirasteis hasta executário con la Com pañia de Cazadores de Vuestra cargo, por lo que os concedi el grado de Teniente Coronel, V os mandé holver á la Escuela Militar de Avila, donde. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
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Bernardo Vicente de Gálvez y Madrid was born on July 23, 1746 in the village of Macharaviaya in the province of Málaga, the son of Matías de Gálvez and Josefa Gallardo Madrid, both of the ancient nobility but at the time of their son’s birth greatly impoverished.
Bernardo served in the army in Portugal (1762), in New Spain against the Apaches, in Algiers under Alejandro O’Reilly, and in the military school at Avila.
Sent to Louisiana as colonel of the fixed regiment, he was appointed governor and intendant of the province by a royal decree of July 10, 1776, and entered upon his duties Feburary 1, 1777.
The war that soon broke out with England afforded ample opportunity for the exercise of his talents, and his powerful family connections (his uncle, José de Gálvez, was colonial secretary under Charles III) obtained generous recognition of his services and the full support of the government for his undertakings.
By espousing Felicitas de St. Maxent, the daughter of a prominent Louisiana family, he identified himself with the Creoles and assured himself of their cooperation in the impending crisis.
In the two years of his administration preceding Spain’s entry into the war he did all that he could to weaken the British in that quarter of the world, supplying the American frontiersmen with arms through the agency of Oliver Pollock and seizing British ships that had been carrying on a profitable contraband trade with Louisiana. When war came, he boldly rejected the advice of his cautious counselors and undertook a vigorous offensive.
In three campaigns he reduced every British post in West Florida, thus making it possible for Spain to obtain both Floridas in the peace settlement of 1783 and to control the mouth of the Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico.
In 1779 he took Baton Rouge, Manchac, and Natchez on the east bank of the Mississippi, and in 1780 and 1781 respectively Mobile and Pensacola on the Gulf. The conquest of Pensacola is deservedly the most famous episode of his career. So formidable were its defenses that he had to obtain reinforcements from Havana.
When these were not forthcoming promptly, he went to Havana in person and, as the nephew of the colonial secretary, got what he wanted. When he was overtaken on his way to Pensacola by a storm that crippled his fleet, he returned to Havana nothing daunted and organized another expedition.
Upon the arrival of the fleet before Pensacola, the admiral, who was independent of Galvez, refused to cross the bar under the guns of the British fort, alleging that to do so would be to court certain destruction. Unable to coerce or persuade him, Galvez shamed him into compliance by running the gauntlet in a small ship, the Galveztown, that belonged to his own Louisiana forces. This feat was commemorated when he was made Count de Galvez and Viscount de Galveztown, for on his coat of arms was emblazoned the ship Galveztoivn with the proud inscription "Vo Solo” (“I alone”). The siege was finally ended by the explosion of a powder magazine that opened a breach in the fortifications and compelled the surrender of the British garrison (May 9, 1781).
Galvez then sailed for Santo Domingo to take part in a joint Franco-Spanish expedition against Jamaica. In 1783 and 1784 he was in Madrid giving advice to his government in regard to Louisiana, the Floridas, and the American frontier.
In 1784 he transferred St. Mark’s from East to West Florida and subordinated the commandants of Pensacola and Mobile to the governor of Louisiana.
In the winter of 1784-85 he consulted with Diego de Gardoqui at Havana and gave him supplementary instructions for his negotiation with the United States.
In 1785 he received the thanks of Congress for releasing some American merchants imprisoned at Havana, and in the same year he ordered the summary expulsion of the Georgia commissioners who had come to Natchez to establish Bourbon County.
He died in Mexico the last of the following November.
Bernardo De Galvez was a prominent military leader. His influence was increased by the honors that he had won as a result of the West Florida campaign. These included promotion to the rank of major-general, his Castilian title of nobility, and appointment as captain-general of Louisiana and the Floridas. He retained the latter office upon his promotion to the captaincy-general of Cuba and, by special dispensation, even after his elevation to the viceroyalty of New Spain (1785) as successor to his father, Matías de Gálvez. His name is associated with several important measures and episodes in the history of Louisiana and the Floridas. He aided in obtaining the commercial cédula of 1782 and in shaping the policy of Spain in regard to Indian affairs, immigration, the boundary dispute with the United States, and the navigation of the Mississippi River. The city of Galveston, Texas, was named after him. In 1911 in Galveston, the Hotel Galvez was built and named after him; Avenue P, where the hotel is located, is known as Bernardo de Galvez Avenue. The hotel was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 4, 1979. On December 16, 2014, the United States Congress conferred honorary citizenship on Gálvez, citing him as a "hero of the Revolutionary War who risked his life for the freedom of the United States people and provided supplies, intelligence, and strong military support to the war effort. "
(Excerpt from Real Cédula de S. M. En Que Se Erigen por Ah...)
In November 1777, Galvez married Marie Félicité de Saint-Maxent d'Estrehan, the Creole daughter of Gilbert Antoine de Saint-Maxent and young widow of Jean-Baptiste d'Estrehan's son. They had three children, Miguel, Matilde, and Guadalupe.
