I represent Lt. Col. Don Bernardo de Gálvez. I was the governor of Louisiana and commander of the Spanish forces in the province during the American Revolution. I came to the colony in 1776 as Colonel of the Regiment of Seville, where I had previously been Captain of Grenadiers. But I had a long service record before that. took over the governor’s office on January 1, 1777, not long after my arrival. Researchers are strangely unsure of my birthdate, but 29 or 30 years old is probably the best estimate for how old I was at the time. In November of that year I married, to the daughter of a local Creole family, winning me over to the French population of the province. Under instructions from Spain, I began covertly assisting the American rebels as early as 1777, making sure supplies and weapons made their way up the Mississippi River. In June 1779, Spain officially declared war on Britain, and upon learning of Pensacola’s plan to attack New Orleans, I mobilized for war. In what has been recognized as a masterful military campaign, my forces captured Fort Bute, Baton Rouge, and Natchez in 1779, Mobile in March 1780, and Pensacola in May 1781. This eliminated the British naval dominance in the Gulf of Mexico and returned all of Florida to Spain. After the surrender of Pensacola I continued my military successes, winning accolades and titles. I became Count de Gálvez and Viceroy of New Spain. I died at the very end of a typhus epidemic in Mexico City, on November 30, 1786, at the age of about 40.
Sources: 96, 97, 108