Gálvez, Bernardo de

GÁLVEZ, BERNARDO DE. (1746–1786). (Visconde de.) Governor of Spanish Louisiana and Florida. Born in Macharaviaya, Spain, of a prominent family at the royal court, he served as a lieutenant against the Portuguese (1762); was promoted to captain and served in New Spain against the Apaches (1769–1770) before being stationed in Algiers (1775); and was promoted to lieutenant colonel, serving at the military school at Ávila. He became acting governor and intendant of Louisiana in January 1777. During the next two years, before Spain's entry into the war, he attempted to weaken the British in his area. He supported the Patriot supply agent Oliver Pollock by providing sanctuary for James Willing in his raids on British West Florida and by seizing British ships that had been engaged in a profitable contraband trade. When Spain entered the war, Gálvez took military action. In 1779 he captured the British river posts of Manchac, Baton Rouge, and Natchez. He took Mobile on 14 March 1780 and forced the surrender of Pensacola during 8-10 May 1781.

He returned to Spain in 1783–1784 to consult on future Spanish policy in the Floridas and the Louisiana territory. Promoted to major general, given his title of nobility, and appointed captain-general of Louisiana and the Floridas, he returned to America and had a prominent part in subsequent diplomatic negotiations with the United States. He became captain-general of Cuba and in 1786 he succeeded his father as viceroy of New Spain while retaining his previous posts. Only a few months after his fortieth birthday, he became ill of a fever and died in Tacubaya, Mexico.

SEE ALSO Manchac Post (Fort Bute); Mobile; Pensacola, Florida; Pollock, Oliver.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Caughey, John W. Bernardo de Gálvez in Louisiana, 1776–1783. 1934. Reprint, Gretna, La.: Pelican, 1999.

Holmes, Jack D. L. "Bernardo de Gálvez." In The Louisiana Governors: From Iberville to Edwards. Edited by Joseph G. Dawson III. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1990.

Lafarelle, Lorenzo G. Bernardo de Gálvez: Hero of the American Revolution. Austin, Tex.: Eakin, 1992.

                        revised by Robert Rhodes Crout