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On July 4, 1776, our country’s birthday, the thirteen colonies declared their independence from Great Britain. In the long
struggle that ensued, the Spanish province of Texas, though far from the main theaters of war, played an important role in
helping the rebellious colonists defeat the British.
Spain, pursuing its own imperial strategies, entered the American Revolution on the side of the colonists on June 21, 1779.
The Spanish governor of Louisiana, Bernardo de Gálvez, had been corresponding with patriot leaders like Patrick Henry, Thomas
Jefferson, and Charles Henry Lee even before his country formally entered the war. Gálvez closed the port of New Orleans to
British shipping, and Spain delivered arms, ammunition, military supplies, and money to the embattled American forces under
George Washington and George Rogers Clark.
Once Spain was in the conflict King Carlos III commissioned Gálvez to raise a force of men and conduct a campaign against
the British along the Mississippi River and the Gulf Coast. In order to feed his troops, Gálvez sent a letter to Texas governor
Domingo Cabello y Robles requesting the delivery of Texas cattle to Spanish forces in Louisiana. Accordingly, between 1779
and 1782, 10,000 cattle were rounded up on ranches belonging to citizens and missions of Bexar and La Bahía.
From Presidio La Bahía, the assembly point, Texas rancheros and their vaqueros trailed these herds to Nacogdoches, Natchitoches,
and Opelousas for distribution to Gálvez's forces. Providing escorts for these herds were soldiers from Presidio San Antonio
de Béxar, Presidio La Bahía, and El Fuerte del Cíbolo, and several hundred horses were also sent along for artillery and cavalry
purposes.
Fueled in part by Texas beef, Gálvez took to the field in the fall of 1779 and defeated the British in several battles. In
1780 he besieged and captured the British stronghold of Fort Charlotte at Mobile. The climax of the Gulf Coast campaign occurred
the following year when Gálvez directed a joint land-sea attack on Pensacola, the British capital of West Florida, and captured
it after a two-month siege. After the fighting, Gálvez helped draft the treaty that ended the war, and he was cited by the
American Congress for his aid during the conflict.
GÁLVEZ, BERNARDO DE
CABELLO Y ROBLES, DOMINGO
SAN ANTONIO DE BÉXAR PRESIDIO
LA BAHÍA
FUERTE DE SANTA CRUZ DEL CÍBOLO
RANCHO DE LA MORA
SPANISH TEXAS
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