Background
Esteban Rodríguez Miró was born in 1744, in Catalonia.
Esteban Rodríguez Miró was born in 1744, in Catalonia.
Miro entered the Spanish army as a cadet at the age of sixteen and took part in the campaign of 1762 against Portugal.
During the American Revolution, Miro served in the West Florida campaigns as first aide-de-camp to Bernardo de G lvez, and was rewarded with promotion to the rank of colonel and command of the regular Louisiana regiment. When G lvez left Louisiana in 1782, Miró was made acting governor. Upon G lvez's promotion to viceroy of New Spain, Miró's appointment was made permanent by a commission dated August 19, 1785. The commandants of Mobile and Pensacola and the governor of Natchez were subordinated to him. In 1789, he was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general. On the retirement of the intendant of Louisiana, Martin Navarro, the intendancy was combined with the governorship (May 10, 1788), and Miró discharged the duties of both offices until December 30, 1791, when he was succeeded by the Baron de Carondelet. Returning to Spain, he defended himself successfully against various charges, one of which was that, under cover of the intrigue with James Wilkinson, he had for several years made an annual profit of $2, 000 by the purchase of Kentucky tobacco (Archivo Histórico Nacional, Madrid, Consejo de Indias, residencia of Miró). He was promoted to the rank of mariscal de campo shortly before his death, which occurred in Spain. His administration was filled with alarms caused by disputes with the United States and its frontiersmen. His conduct with respect to these was not so aggressive, independent, or venal as it has sometimes been described. Toward the Southern Indians, whom he sought to control through Alexander McGillivray and Panton, Leslie & Company, his policy was purely defensive. In the Bourbon County episode (1785) and in his relations with the Georgia land companies (1790 - 91) he earnestly sought to avoid a rupture. His notorious intrigue with James Wilkinson was begun on the initiative of the latter and carried on (as were all his important affairs) under minute directions from Madrid. His encouragement of foreign immigration and partial opening of the Mississippi to the Western Americans was due not to bribery but to an explicit royal order of 1788. He gave Louisiana a mild and beneficent administration, encouraging commerce and agriculture, opposing the establishment of the Inquisition, and making every effort to restore New Orleans after the great fire of 1788. The construction of several notable public buildings was begun at this time. In 1787, he asked that his salary of 4, 000 pesos be increased, complaining that the high prices and lavish style of living at New Orleans had consumed most of her dowry of 16, 000 pesos as well as his own savings.
Miro spoke French and had some knowledge of English. It was rumored that his secretary did all his work for him, and in 1787, he thought it proper voluntarily to assure the colonial secretary that the rumor was unfounded. Vicente Folch, commandant of Mobile and Pensacola, was his nephew.
Miro was married to Céleste Eléonore Elizabeth Macarty, sprightly daughter of a wealthy creole family.