Gálvez

Without Spanish assistance during the American Revolutionary War, we would still be under the British flag. Galvez was always one step ahead of the English. He drove the English out of the lower Mississippi River by defeating them at Manchac, Baton Rouge & Natchez. His Spanish army and militia defeated the English at St. Louis. His Spanish army and militia captured the British fort with a warehouse of weapons, food and supplies at Niles, Michigan. He led the attacks on Mobile and Pensacola and drove the British from the Gulf coast. Spain provided as much if not more financial support as France during the American Revolutionary War. Spanish soldiers fought the English in Europe, Central America, South Africa and India. On one day the Spanish fleet captured 55 British ships, including 8 war ships, taking over 2,500 crew men as prisoners, & seized over 1,500,000 English Pounds value of the cargo on those ships. For fear of an attack from Spain and France, England kept the bulk of its army and naval fleet at home, diluting the strength of its forces in North America. Spanish merchants supplied the colonists with arms, ammunition and supplies as early as 1774. 17,000 Spanish troops and sailors fought the English in North America during the war; many more than George Washington's Continental Army.