On This Day In History, 1781, Begins the “Battle of Pensacola”, Where Unheralded General Bernardo de Gálvez of Spain
…throws a monkey wrench in the works and darned if he didn’t wind up saving us.
On to Pensacola
His next target was Pensacola, the capital of West Florida. However, due to several hurricanes and storms, he had to wait until the next March to attack this target. Pensacola had a narrow entrance to its bay, and this entrance was guarded by a British fort. The first Spanish ship was fired upon and ran aground. The rest of the fleet retreated back to sea. Gálvez was head of the ground forces, but for this campaign Havana had sent Admiral José Calbo de Irazabel to be in charge of the navy. Gálvez kept urging the admiral to press the attack, but the admiral kept making excuses.Gálvez knew that the British fleet was on its way, so he decided to take the matter into his own hands. He took his own four ships, hoisted his personal flag in the lead ship, stood on the prow with his sword raised, and ordered a 15-gun salute fired as he led his ships through the pass.
When the rest of the fleet saw this daring move, they urged the admiral to give the order to follow. Still, Irazabel hesitated. Finally he told the other captains, “Do whatever you want.” The other ships followed Gálvez. Irazabel returned to Cuba and was never heard from again.
After two months of fighting, the British finally surrendered in May 1781. The Battle of Pensacola was one of the longest battles of the American Revolution; yet, it rarely appears in our history books.
In July 1781 British troops began to arrive in Yorktown, the final engagement of the war. Think how much impact Gálvez and his troops had. Not only had he kept the British occupied on a second front throughout the war, but also imagine how much impact the loss of Pensacola had on the number of troops and ships the British could send to Yorktown. Imagine what course the American Revolution might have taken without the help of this able Spanish general.
Fun, Life, Military Thingies | tree hugging sister | 
May 8, 2013 9:27 am
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Wow. I’d never even heard of this battle!
We sort of have a problem getting the word out about stuff.
Technically the first shot in the Civil War went off here as well, vice Sumter. Bet you hadn’t heard that either.
Was the telephone invented in Pensacola as well?
No, wait, the Treaty of Versailles was signed in Pensacola, amIright?
A good ‘un.
But I still like the extremely unlikely yet absolutely true tale of the travels of Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, the “Al the Cow’s Head”
Fort Pickens and a Wall Street Journal article on it as well.
That covers the Civil War.
We’re America’s First Settlement. Jamestown, St. Augustine, etc ~ bunch of poofers.
Sounds like Pensacola is a lot like the Portuguese, whom my Grandmother tells me were the first to discover America, circumnavigate the world, and land on the moon.
Pensacola also invented soft drinks.