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Battle of Pensacola (1781)
Encyclopedia
The Siege of Pensacola was fought in 1781, the culmination of Spain's conquest of the British
province West Florida
during the American War of Independence.
entered the War in 1779, Bernardo de Gálvez, the energetic governor of Spanish Louisiana, immediately began offensive operations to gain control of British West Florida
. In September 1779 he gained complete control over the lower Mississippi River
by capturing Fort Bute
and then shortly thereafter obtaining the surrender of the remaining forces following the Battle of Baton Rouge
. He followed up these successes with the capture of Mobile
on March 14, 1780, following a brief siege.
Gálvez began planning an assault on Pensacola
, West Florida's capital, using forces from Havana
, with the recently-captured Mobile as the launching point for the attack. However, British reinforcements arriving in Pensacola in April 1780 delayed the expedition, and when an invasion fleet finally sailed in October, it was dispersed by a hurricane a few days later. Gálvez spent nearly a month regrouping the fleet at Havana.
, 16 Regiment Royal Artillery). These were augmented by the Third Regiment of Waldeck
and The Maryland Loyalist Battalion as well as the Pennsylvania Loyalists. These troops were provincial soldiers, rather than militia
. In addition to the Loyalist soldiers, many Native Americans natives supported the British. After the fall of Mobile in March 1780, over 1,600 Indians came to defend Pensacola, with Creeks being the most numerous. Just before the Spanish attack there were 788 Native American fighters in Pensacola, but Campbell, not realizing the attack was imminent, sent about 300 away. During the siege and battle there were over 500 natives defending Pensacola, the majority of which were Choctaw
.
Gálvez had received detailed descriptions of the state of the defenses in 1779 when he sent an aide there under the guise of discussions concerning the return of escaped slaves, but Campbell made numerous changes in the intervening years. Pensacola's defense works in early 1781 consisted of Fort George
, an earthen works topped by a palisade
that was rebuilt under Campbell's directions in 1780. North of the fort he had built the Prince of Wales Redoubt
, and to its northwest was the Queen's Redoubt, also built in 1780. Campbell also erected a battery called Fort Barrancas Colorada
near the mouth of the bay.
on March 9, Gálvez landed some troops on Santa Rosa Island, the barrier island
protecting the bay. When the island turned out to be undefended, he landed and emplaced some artillery
, which was then used to drive away the British ships in the bay.
Getting the Spanish ships into the bay turned out to be difficult, as it had been in the previous year's capture of Mobile
. Some materials were unloaded onto Santa Rosa Island to raise some of the ships, but Calbo, the fleet commander, refused to send any ships through the channel after the lead ship, the 64-cannonSan Ramon, grounded in its attempt, citing that danger, and some British guns that seemed to have range to the bay entrance.
Gálvez then used his authority as Governor of Louisiana to commandeer those ships in the fleet that were from Louisiana. He then boarded the Gálveztown and on March 18 sailed her through the channel and into the bay; the other three Louisiana ships followed, under ineffective British cannonfire. After sending Calbo a detailed description of the channel, the captains under his command all insisted on making the crossing, which they did the very next day. Calbo, claiming that his assignment to deliver Gálvez' invasion force was complete, sailed the San Ramon back to Havana.
On March 24, the Spanish army and militias moved to the center of operations, and the troops at Santa Rosa joined the forces arriving from Mobile. During the first weeks of April, the Pensacola fortifications were reconnoitered. The furthest redoubt from the city was the Crescent; next was the Sombrero, followed by Fort George. The troops established encampments and began the extensive preparations for the siege. Hundreds of engineers and workers transported supplies and armaments to the battlefield. The men dug trenches, bunkers, and redoubts and constructed a covered road to shield the troops from the constant fire of British cannons, grapeshot, grenades, and howitzers. Gálvez p. 20
Their preparations were interrupted on April 19 when a large fleet was sighted heading towards the bay, which were at first thought to be British reinforcements. These ships were the combined Spanish and French fleet from Havana headed by of José Solano y Bote
and François Aymar, the Baron de Monteil, bringing Spanish Field Marshal
Juan Manuel de Cagigal. Reports of a British squadron sighted near Cape San Antonio had reached Havana earlier, and concerned that this fleet would support Pensacola, reinforcements were rushed to Gálvez. The Spanish fleet carried a crew of 1,700 and 1,600 soldiers, raising the total Spanish force to 8,000 men. Solano decided to remain to assist Gálvez after the disembarkation of the troops, and the two men worked closely together.
On May 8, a fortunate howitzer blast hit the magazine in Fort Crescent. Black smoke billowed into the sky as the gunpowder supply exploded, killing 57 British troops and devastating the fortifications. Ezpeleta, commanding the light infantry, was then able to lead the charge to take Fort Crescent, and moved howitzers and cannons in place to open fire on the next two fortifications. The British fired back from Fort George, but were overwhelmed by the Spanish firepower.
Realizing that this final line of fortification could not sustain the barrage, the British hoisted the white flag from Fort George at 3 in the afternoon on that same day. On May 10, 1781, the formal surrender was complete. More than 1,100 British prisoners were taken and another 200 casualties sustained. The Spanish lost 74 men, with 198 wounded.
The terms of capitulation included the entirety of British West Florida the Spanish captured, in addition to the British garrison, large quantities of war material and supplies, plus two British sloop
s. Gálvez had the batteries and Fort Barrancas Coloradas moved closer to the bay entrance, and also built a similar battery on Santa Rosa Island
as a precuation against future British attempts on Pensacola.
The British troops were first taken to Havana, and then returned to the British in New York in an exchange for Spanish prisoners of war, an action that drew protest from the United States. Gálvez' action was prompted by the brutal treatment that Spanish soldiers were receiving on British prison ships.
The men were welcomed as heroes when they arrived in Havana on May 30. King Charles III
promoted Gálvez to lieutenant general. Gálvez also was named governor of West Florida as well as Louisiana. The royal commendation also stated that in recognition of Gálvez alone forcing the entrance to the Bay, he could place on his coat of arms the words, “Yo Solo”.
José Solano y Bote was later recognized by King Charles III
for his efforts in coming to aid Gálvez with the title Marquez de Socorro. A painting showing Solano with his recognitions with Santa Rosa Bay in the background recorded this accomplishment. The painting is now in the Museo Naval of Madrid.A captured British flag is now on display
at the new Spanish Army Museum in Toledo.
Kingdom of Great Britain
The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...
province West Florida
West Florida
West Florida was a region on the north shore of the Gulf of Mexico, which underwent several boundary and sovereignty changes during its history. West Florida was first established in 1763 by the British government; as its name suggests it largely consisted of the western portion of the region...
during the American War of Independence.
Background
When SpainSpain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
entered the War in 1779, Bernardo de Gálvez, the energetic governor of Spanish Louisiana, immediately began offensive operations to gain control of British West Florida
West Florida
West Florida was a region on the north shore of the Gulf of Mexico, which underwent several boundary and sovereignty changes during its history. West Florida was first established in 1763 by the British government; as its name suggests it largely consisted of the western portion of the region...
. In September 1779 he gained complete control over the lower Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
by capturing Fort Bute
Capture of Fort Bute
The Capture of Fort Bute signalled the opening of Spanish intervention in the American Revolutionary War on the side of France and the United States. Mustering an ad hoc army of Spanish regulars, Acadian militia, and native levies under Gilbert Antoine de St...
and then shortly thereafter obtaining the surrender of the remaining forces following the Battle of Baton Rouge
Battle of Baton Rouge (1779)
The Battle of Baton Rouge was a brief siege during the American Revolutionary War that was decided on September 21, 1779. Baton Rouge was the second British outpost to fall to Spanish arms during Bernardo de Gálvez's march into British West Florida....
. He followed up these successes with the capture of Mobile
Battle of Fort Charlotte
The Battle of Fort Charlotte or the Siege of Fort Charlotte was a two-week siege conducted by Spanish General Bernardo de Gálvez against the British fortifications guarding the port of Mobile during the American Revolutionary War...
on March 14, 1780, following a brief siege.
Gálvez began planning an assault on Pensacola
Pensacola, Florida
Pensacola is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle and the county seat of Escambia County, Florida, United States of America. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 56,255 and as of 2009, the estimated population was 53,752...
, West Florida's capital, using forces from Havana
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
, with the recently-captured Mobile as the launching point for the attack. However, British reinforcements arriving in Pensacola in April 1780 delayed the expedition, and when an invasion fleet finally sailed in October, it was dispersed by a hurricane a few days later. Gálvez spent nearly a month regrouping the fleet at Havana.
British defences
Following the outbreak of hostilities with Spain 1779, General John Campbell, concerned over the condition of the defenses, requested reinforcements, and began construction of additional defenses. By early 1781, the Pensacola garrison consisted of the 16th Regiment, a battalion from the 60th, and 7 (Johnstones) Company of the 4th Battalion Royal Artillery (Present day 20 Battery Royal Artillery20 Battery Royal Artillery
20 Battery Royal Artillery is an air defence battery of the British Army. It is one of the five batteries that make up 16th Regiment Royal Artillery. Both the Battery and 16th Regiment use the Rapier Field Standard C air defence missile system, the last Regiment in the British Armed Forces to do so...
, 16 Regiment Royal Artillery). These were augmented by the Third Regiment of Waldeck
Waldeck (state)
Waldeck was a sovereign principality in the German Empire and German Confederation and, until 1929, a constituent state of the Weimar Republic. It comprised territories in present-day Hesse and Lower Saxony, ....
and The Maryland Loyalist Battalion as well as the Pennsylvania Loyalists. These troops were provincial soldiers, rather than militia
Militia
The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...
. In addition to the Loyalist soldiers, many Native Americans natives supported the British. After the fall of Mobile in March 1780, over 1,600 Indians came to defend Pensacola, with Creeks being the most numerous. Just before the Spanish attack there were 788 Native American fighters in Pensacola, but Campbell, not realizing the attack was imminent, sent about 300 away. During the siege and battle there were over 500 natives defending Pensacola, the majority of which were Choctaw
Choctaw
The Choctaw are a Native American people originally from the Southeastern United States...
.
Gálvez had received detailed descriptions of the state of the defenses in 1779 when he sent an aide there under the guise of discussions concerning the return of escaped slaves, but Campbell made numerous changes in the intervening years. Pensacola's defense works in early 1781 consisted of Fort George
Fort George (Pensacola, Florida)
Fort George was a British fort built in 1778 for the protection of Pensacola, Florida. The fort no longer exists, though part of it was later recreated to mark its original location. This reconstruction is part of the Fort George Memorial Park, which is in the North Hill Preservation District. The...
, an earthen works topped by a palisade
Palisade
A palisade is a steel or wooden fence or wall of variable height, usually used as a defensive structure.- Typical construction :Typical construction consisted of small or mid sized tree trunks aligned vertically, with no spacing in between. The trunks were sharpened or pointed at the top, and were...
that was rebuilt under Campbell's directions in 1780. North of the fort he had built the Prince of Wales Redoubt
Redoubt
A redoubt is a fort or fort system usually consisting of an enclosed defensive emplacement outside a larger fort, usually relying on earthworks, though others are constructed of stone or brick. It is meant to protect soldiers outside the main defensive line and can be a permanent structure or a...
, and to its northwest was the Queen's Redoubt, also built in 1780. Campbell also erected a battery called Fort Barrancas Colorada
Fort Barrancas
Fort Barrancas or Fort San Carlos de Barrancas is a historic United States military fort in the Warrington area of Pensacola, Florida, located physically on Naval Air Station Pensacola....
near the mouth of the bay.
Sailing to Pensacola
Gálvez and the Spanish fleet, under the command of Captain José Calbo de Irazabal, sailed from Havana on February 13 with about 1,300 men. Among these men were the militias of biracial and free Afro-Cubans. Gálvez had ordered additional troops from New Orleans and Mobile to assist. Arriving outside Pensacola BayPensacola Bay
Pensacola Bay is a bay located in the northwestern part of Florida, United States, known as the Florida Panhandle.The bay, an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico, is located in Escambia County and Santa Rosa County, adjacent to the city of Pensacola, Florida, and is about 13 miles long and 2.5 miles ...
on March 9, Gálvez landed some troops on Santa Rosa Island, the barrier island
Barrier island
Barrier islands, a coastal landform and a type of barrier system, are relatively narrow strips of sand that parallel the mainland coast. They usually occur in chains, consisting of anything from a few islands to more than a dozen...
protecting the bay. When the island turned out to be undefended, he landed and emplaced some artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
, which was then used to drive away the British ships in the bay.
Getting the Spanish ships into the bay turned out to be difficult, as it had been in the previous year's capture of Mobile
Battle of Fort Charlotte
The Battle of Fort Charlotte or the Siege of Fort Charlotte was a two-week siege conducted by Spanish General Bernardo de Gálvez against the British fortifications guarding the port of Mobile during the American Revolutionary War...
. Some materials were unloaded onto Santa Rosa Island to raise some of the ships, but Calbo, the fleet commander, refused to send any ships through the channel after the lead ship, the 64-cannonSan Ramon, grounded in its attempt, citing that danger, and some British guns that seemed to have range to the bay entrance.
Gálvez then used his authority as Governor of Louisiana to commandeer those ships in the fleet that were from Louisiana. He then boarded the Gálveztown and on March 18 sailed her through the channel and into the bay; the other three Louisiana ships followed, under ineffective British cannonfire. After sending Calbo a detailed description of the channel, the captains under his command all insisted on making the crossing, which they did the very next day. Calbo, claiming that his assignment to deliver Gálvez' invasion force was complete, sailed the San Ramon back to Havana.
On March 24, the Spanish army and militias moved to the center of operations, and the troops at Santa Rosa joined the forces arriving from Mobile. During the first weeks of April, the Pensacola fortifications were reconnoitered. The furthest redoubt from the city was the Crescent; next was the Sombrero, followed by Fort George. The troops established encampments and began the extensive preparations for the siege. Hundreds of engineers and workers transported supplies and armaments to the battlefield. The men dug trenches, bunkers, and redoubts and constructed a covered road to shield the troops from the constant fire of British cannons, grapeshot, grenades, and howitzers. Gálvez p. 20
Their preparations were interrupted on April 19 when a large fleet was sighted heading towards the bay, which were at first thought to be British reinforcements. These ships were the combined Spanish and French fleet from Havana headed by of José Solano y Bote
Jose Solano y Bote
Don José de Solano y Bote Carrasco y Díaz , marquess of Socorro, was a Spanish Naval officer.He served an extensive career in the Spanish Navy starting at the age of 16 until his death in 1806. Shortly after joining the Spanish navy in 1742, he participated in the Battle of Toulon , where the...
and François Aymar, the Baron de Monteil, bringing Spanish Field Marshal
Field Marshal
Field Marshal is a military rank. Traditionally, it is the highest military rank in an army.-Etymology:The origin of the rank of field marshal dates to the early Middle Ages, originally meaning the keeper of the king's horses , from the time of the early Frankish kings.-Usage and hierarchical...
Juan Manuel de Cagigal. Reports of a British squadron sighted near Cape San Antonio had reached Havana earlier, and concerned that this fleet would support Pensacola, reinforcements were rushed to Gálvez. The Spanish fleet carried a crew of 1,700 and 1,600 soldiers, raising the total Spanish force to 8,000 men. Solano decided to remain to assist Gálvez after the disembarkation of the troops, and the two men worked closely together.
Siege
On April 12, Gálvez was wounded by gunfire while viewing the British fortifications and the battlefield command was formally given to Col. José de Ezpeleta, a personal friend of Gálvez. The Spanish batteries opened fire on April 30, beginning the full-scale attack on Pensacola fortifications. The Gulf continued its tempestuous storms, and on May 5 and 6, a hurricane again struck the Spanish ships. The Spanish navy was forced to withdraw, fearing that the fierce sea would crash the wooden ships on the shore. The army was on its own to continue the siege. The trenches flooded and the troops were granted a ration of brandy from Gálvez.On May 8, a fortunate howitzer blast hit the magazine in Fort Crescent. Black smoke billowed into the sky as the gunpowder supply exploded, killing 57 British troops and devastating the fortifications. Ezpeleta, commanding the light infantry, was then able to lead the charge to take Fort Crescent, and moved howitzers and cannons in place to open fire on the next two fortifications. The British fired back from Fort George, but were overwhelmed by the Spanish firepower.
Realizing that this final line of fortification could not sustain the barrage, the British hoisted the white flag from Fort George at 3 in the afternoon on that same day. On May 10, 1781, the formal surrender was complete. More than 1,100 British prisoners were taken and another 200 casualties sustained. The Spanish lost 74 men, with 198 wounded.
Aftermath
Sloop
A sloop is a sail boat with a fore-and-aft rig and a single mast farther forward than the mast of a cutter....
s. Gálvez had the batteries and Fort Barrancas Coloradas moved closer to the bay entrance, and also built a similar battery on Santa Rosa Island
Santa Rosa Island, Florida
Santa Rosa Island[p] is a 40-mile barrier island located in the U.S. state of Florida, thirty miles east of the Alabama state border...
as a precuation against future British attempts on Pensacola.
The British troops were first taken to Havana, and then returned to the British in New York in an exchange for Spanish prisoners of war, an action that drew protest from the United States. Gálvez' action was prompted by the brutal treatment that Spanish soldiers were receiving on British prison ships.
The men were welcomed as heroes when they arrived in Havana on May 30. King Charles III
Charles III of Spain
Charles III was the King of Spain and the Spanish Indies from 1759 to 1788. He was the eldest son of Philip V of Spain and his second wife, the Princess Elisabeth Farnese...
promoted Gálvez to lieutenant general. Gálvez also was named governor of West Florida as well as Louisiana. The royal commendation also stated that in recognition of Gálvez alone forcing the entrance to the Bay, he could place on his coat of arms the words, “Yo Solo”.
José Solano y Bote was later recognized by King Charles III
Charles III of Spain
Charles III was the King of Spain and the Spanish Indies from 1759 to 1788. He was the eldest son of Philip V of Spain and his second wife, the Princess Elisabeth Farnese...
for his efforts in coming to aid Gálvez with the title Marquez de Socorro. A painting showing Solano with his recognitions with Santa Rosa Bay in the background recorded this accomplishment. The painting is now in the Museo Naval of Madrid.A captured British flag is now on display
at the new Spanish Army Museum in Toledo.